The bell now called the Liberty Bell was cast in the Whitechapel Foundry in the East End of London. It was sent to the building currently known as Independence Hall, then the Pennsylvania State House, in 1752. It was an impressive looking object, 12 feet in circumference around the lip with a 44-pound clapper. Unfortunately, the clapper cracked the bell on its first use.

From 1753 until 1777, the bell, despite its crack, rang mostly to call the Pennsylvania Assembly to order. However, by the 1770s, the bell tower had started rotting and some felt ringing the bell might cause the tower to topple. Thus, the bell was probably not rung at all to announce the signing of the Declaration of Independence or even to call people to hear its first public reading on July 8, 1776. Still, officials considered it valuable enough to move, with 22 other large Philadelphia bells, to Allentown in September 1777, so that invading British forces would not confiscate it. It was returned to the State House in June 1778.

Once it was no longer used as a working bell, especially in the years after the Civil War, the Liberty Bell’s symbolic position strengthened. It started going on what were essentially barnstorming patriotic trips, mostly to World’s Fairs and similar international expositions where the United States wanted to show off its best wares and celebrate its national identity. The first trip was in January 1885, on a special railroad flatcar, making 14 stops along the way to the World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans.

Louisiana cast a coin or token to commemorate the occasion. Pennsylvania also cast a coin to commemorate the trip of the Liberty Bell to New Orleans. About 20 years ago, I located a coin in an old house but never gave it much thought. About 10 years after that, I bought some old coins at a sale in Mississippi. One of the coins was from Pennsylvania. Not knowing the history of the coins, I put them on the side for years. After building the museum for the various collections and items I had stored in my shed, I started to ask questions about these coins. After researching and calling Pennsylvania, I discovered that I had the two coins that were cast for the Liberty Bell and World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans.

The chances of finding the two coins cast in 1885, from different states, for the same exposition is nothing short of a miracle. The coins are now on display at the Louisiana Treasurers Museum located on Highway 22 West. For more information call me at 225-294-8352.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum located at 10290 Highway 22, West Pontchatoula.