The Gift

Dr. Gibbon W. "Gib" Carson

Grand Commander, Knights Templar,

Missouri, 1908

Thursday, September 26, 1929, the annual communication of the Grand Lodge of Missouri culminated with a formal dinner in the third floor dining hall of the new Masonic Temple in St. Louis.  Four hundred guests had gathered there to honor Dr. Gibbon W. Carson and his wife Betty on their fiftieth year of marriage.

Brother Carson, then 75, was a St. Louis area physician who had held many posts and committee chairmanships in Missouri Freemasonry, most notably having been Past Grand High Priest, Past Grand Illustrious Master and Past Grand Commander of the Grand York Rite bodies in Missouri.  In short, he was a well respected fixture in the fraternity.

In the ceremony after the dinner, John Q. Brown,  Commander of St. Aldemar Commandery, presented a gift to the Carsons on behalf of those in attendance.  It was a small purse containing $1,000 – fifty $20 gold pieces, one gold coin for each year the couple had been married.

Even today a gift of $1,000 would be a significant gesture of appreciation.  In 1929, however, that amount of money had substantially more buying power than it does now.  According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator, the present-day value of $1,000 in 1929 makes that an equivalent gift of nearly $15,000. Today the gold in each of those coins would have a "melt value" of about $1,300, or a total of $65,000.

Moreover, assuming the Brothers presented the Carsons with gold coins of that era, most likely the St. Gaudens $20 gold piece, today's numismatic value of those coins (in average circulated condition) would be a minimum of $800,000!

Of course, as we Freemasons would say, the gift was given "not for its intrinsic value or worth," but as a gesture of appreciation for the Carsons' service to the fraternity.  Still, it's enticing to speculate what the Carsons, who had no surviving children at the time, might have done with the treasure.