Here are director Henry Linderman's published rules for the sale of pattern pieces and proof coins. The intention was to place sale of patterns on a similar basis as proofs and eliminate future ad hoc dealing. Can members spot the loop-holes?
Rules – Effective July 1, 1867
1. No coins, nor pattern pieces, shall be struck after the year of their date; and to insure this, the dies shall he rendered unfit for that use.
2. No coins, nor patterns, are to be issued in any but their proper metal.
3. Any experimental or pattern piece can he obtained at the Mint, within the year of its date, but not after. Standing orders for such pieces will be registered, and attended to.
Any patterns that remain on hand, at the end of the year, must be defaced; it is not desirable to make them as common as the proofs of regular coinage. If any sets of regular proofs remain over, they may be sold in the next year, but not later.
4. The price of any pattern coin, in any but precious metal, will be three dollars ($3.00) in currency; if in gold or silver, the value of the metal is to be added. But when a pattern piece is adopted and used in the regular coinage, in the same year, it will then be issued as a proof, at a price near its current value; or if it comes out early in the year, it will be placed in the regular proof set.
The Director reserves the right to send a pattern piece, without charge, to any incorporated Numismatic Society in the United States. In such cases, if the pattern is in gold or silver, the value of the metal will be expected.
5. The price of the regular proof set of gold, will be forty-three dollars ($43.00) in gold; the proof set of silver and copper, three dollars in silver ($3.00), as heretofore. To suit the convenience of many, payment may be made in the currency equivalent.
6. The profits of this whole department are reserved to the Medal Fund, which is a part of the public moneys; and are not to be a perquisite to any person holding a place in the Mint. All such persons are expected to refrain from dealings in this line, or affording aid to friends or dealers outside. If this expectation is counteracted, it will call for serious notice. The rule, however, does not apply to such coins and medals as are not within the scope of this department. And it is, of course, intended that our Engravers shall be compensated for their work on medals that are to be paid for.
HENRY R. LINDERMAN, Director