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Mystery coin
By Anthony McConnell
This document was published online on Wednesday, January 09, 2008
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| During filming in Cody of “History Detectives” for PBS on Jan. 4, Meadow Merrill of Bath, Maine, talks about a coin she believes was shot by Annie Oakley. The coin has been in Merrill’s family for many years.
(Photo by Jasen Hansen) |
The mystery surrounding a 1853 French Napoleon coin that may have been shot by Annie Oakley made its way to Cody recently.
The coin belongs to Meadow Merrill, a freelance writer from Bath, Maine, and belonged to one of her great uncles who played in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Band.
Meadow traveled to Cody with her husband Dana and the crew of the PBS show “History Detectives” on Jan. 4-6 to determine if her family legend that Oakley shot the coin was true.
“I’m a writer,” Meadow said after filming a segment for the show at the Chamberlin Inn. “I love stories and wanted to find out if mine was true, and that’s where History Detectives came in.”
After watching an episode last year Meadow sent an e-mail through the show’s Web site asking if they could help her confirm her family story.
She was contacted by the show’s producers in September and told her coin would be the subject of an episode.
“It’s been a fascinating whirlwind,” Dana said. “It’s going to be great to find out if everything’s true.”
This is the second time Meadow has been to Cody researching the coin.
“My family came through when I was 10,” she said. “Mom asked about it at the museum (Buffalo Bill Historical Center), but they weren’t able to confirm the story.”
While the producers revealed the truth behind the coin to Meadow for the show, she said she has been “sworn to secrecy” to keep from spoiling the episode.
Real or not, the story provided an opportunity for History Detectives to tell the story of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West and Annie Oakley, host Elyse Luray said.
“Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley were two of America’s first celebrities,” she said. “This lets us tell their story.”
While telling a compelling story from history is an important a part of History Detectives, its focus is to teach people to research family stories on their own.
“As we teach you to research, we tell you about an important part of history,” said Luray, a former researcher and appraiser for Christie’s auction house.
“The Internet only gets you so far,” she added. “You need to look at primary sources like microfilm and archives that you can’t find online.”
It was that need for materials not available online that brought the show to the BBHC.
“People who don’t come here don’t realize how important the BBHC is,” Luray said. “It really is one of the best museums in the country.”
In addition to the resources at the BBHC, the crew also spoke with Northwest College music professor Mike Masterson, who has researched Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Band and re-recorded much of the music the band performed.
Season six of History Detectives, including the episode filmed in Cody, starts airing in summer 2008 and is usually paired with Antiques Road Show.
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