By Paul Gilkes-Coin World Staff | 03-18-13
New Liberty Dollar images, top, courtesy of Joseph VaughnPerling; Liberty Dollar images from Coin World
files. While California collector Joseph VaughnPerling is sympathetic
to the concept of Bernard von NotHaus’ original Liberty Dollar as a
private voluntary barter currency, he wanted to make sure his New
Liberty Dollar wouldn’t replicate some of the issues that resulted in
von NotHaus’ 2011 federal conviction on counterfeiting and related
charges involving the original Liberty Dollars.
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| Notice the differences in the designs for the New Liberty Dollar, top, in comparison to the original Liberty Dollar, bottom. |
The Liberty Dollar medals were introduced in 1998 by von NotHaus under
the umbrella of the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal
Reserve Act, also called NORFED. The medals were promoted as an
alternative to Federal Reserve notes. They also attracted the
unfavorable attention of the government.
VaughnPerling — who said he has been buying silver for years as a store
of wealth rather than a source for bartering — got the idea to produce
and issue his New Liberty Dollar after reading the details of the
federal government’s 2011 trial of von NotHaus over the Liberty Dollar.
VaughnPerling’s silver purchases included a quantity of the silver
Liberty Dollars.
“I have no desire to compete with the Federal Reserve or any government
institution,” VaughnPerling said March 11. “This is an entirely private
minting of a silver product and not current money. We make that as
clear as possible on the http://www.newlibertydollar.com website and
exchange them only through clearly contracted terms to qualified buyers
who affirm that they understand what they are getting is not a
government coin and so does not rely on the Legal Tender laws for its
value, but rather its own innate silver composition, beauty, numismatic,
sentimental or other value.”
VaughnPerling said in consultation with legal experts he extensively
reviewed the transcript from the federal government’s case against von
NotHaus before moving ahead near the end of 2011 with his New Liberty
Dollar plans.
“I studied the elements of what was alleged to be wrong with the
Liberty Dollars — what parts of the Liberty Dollars were legally
questionable enough to have led the jury to believe that the Liberty
Dollars were so similar to a U.S. coin that someone not only could
mistake them but had been mistaken,” VaughnPerling said March 11. “For
that mistake to be criminal, it also had to have been intentionally
created.”
VaughnPerling said he was careful to ensure that the imagery and
inscriptions for the New Liberty Dollar were not legally problematic.
The main goal of the New Liberty Dollar, VaughnPerling said, is to
“preserve as much of the beauty and artistry of the original Liberty
Dollar, but subtracting or replacing the elements that based on our
analysis of the legal case were the most problematic for the jury.
“Many of the things that were problems were only in early versions, but
dropped in later issuances of the Liberty Dollar,” VaughnPerling said.
The New Liberty Dollar’s inscriptions eliminate any appearance of USA.
The wide-spaced LIBERTY on the original pieces has been replaced by NEW
LIBERTY DOLLAR. And TRUST IN GOD has been replaced with RIGHT TO
CONTRACT.
The familiar crowned Liberty from the Liberty Dollar obverse appears on
the New Liberty Dollar obverse. The flaming torch has been retained for
the reverse.
The designs were licensed from an undisclosed company to which von
NotHaus says he divested his rights to the Liberty Dollar designs before
his arrest by federal authorities on June 6, 2009.
Von NotHaus said March 12, 2013, that he has had no involvement with
VaughnPerling and the New Liberty Dollar, for to do so would constitute a
breach of his conditions of bond. VaughnPerling confirmed von NotHaus
has had no involvement with the New Liberty Dollar.
VaughnPerling said he contracted with a private mint to produce the New
Liberty Dollar, tweaking the process to result in the double-struck
Proof quality he desired. A number of prototype pieces were struck with
more of a matte finish, he said.
VaughnPerling contacted a number of successful distributors of the
original Liberty Dollar as a foundation to build a network of
distributors for the New Liberty Dollar.
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