$100 to anyone who can find the missing link of the Machatzis Hashekel once Owned by the Chasam Sofer. I have seen (and touched) this coin and I know where it is. I hope someone can help me authenticate it. The first step is to find out about the last heir to the coin – William H Bauer.
The following statement was made by William H. Baur on June 12, 2013. He has since passed away (jan 2015). The statement is titled “Family Medal”.
The Jewish Medal was first owned by a famous Jewish rabbin Rabi Mosses Sofer who left it for his son Abraham, it was inherited by Rosie who gave it to Akiba who lived in Germany he gave this medal to his daughter Gertrude and she brought it to the United States. She gave it to Morris who gave it to his daughter, my grandmother who gave it as a gift to me.
William H Bauer
That was word for word with all (missing) punctuation exactly as it is written. The $100 challenge is to figure out who is Morris’s daughter, Wiliam’s grandmother. (Consider that possibility that Morris may be Gertrude’s husband who had a daughter from a different marriage. I suggest that because I could not find any Baur Family in the genealogy line. But it’s just a guess.)