The fact was revealed at a meeting of the ANA member Capital City Coin Club of Austin, Texas. Club member Kurt Baty spoke on "United States Coins and Mints." "It started with a rather simple question," Kurt Baty explained. "If I wanted to have a U.S. Mint mintmark set, what could it look like?" What would be the fewest coin types to meet the challenge? On the other hand, could you assemble eight different coins, one from each of the eight Mints? What if you wanted to show the first coin struck by each?

Numismatists Walter Breen, Mitch Sanders, and Lane Brunner joined professors of political science, history and economics who found a rich inventory of allusions in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.  According to an impressive list of articles from academic journals and newspaper features, Baum wove the political debates of his time into his fable. Within the story are the Crime of '73 and the presidential campaigns of William Jennings Bryan.  Easiest to identify are the characters best known from the 1939 film version. The Scarecrow represents farmers; the Tin Woodman is the industrial worker; Cowardly Lion is Bryan; the Emerald City is the White House; and the Wizard is President McKinley.  All of that is merely an introduction.  Over the last 45 years, each new interpreter uncovered new messages in the text.