RWB

This letter, from a major U.S. Mining Industry publication, will give members a good idea of the opinion of many business people about the practical utility of double eagles in the domestic economy. This view goes back several years before Congress authorized coining gold dollars and double eagles. (Volunteer transcription.)

This 1893 letter from Philadelphia Mint Coiner William Steele provides specific insight into one cause of misaligned (one side) strikes. The press in question, made by Ferracute Company (Oberlin Smith), was used for striking Morgan dollars and double eagles. Following Mr. Steele's letter is the response from Ferracute. The letter is addressed to Mark Cobb, Chief Clerk. Mint of the United States at Philadelphia Coiner’s Office May 11, 1893 Hon. O. C. Bosbyshell, Superintendent Sir: The thread in the holes in the cast iron head of the Ferracute coining press, where the long bolts run through the arch to hold the upper die, has torn out – this permits the die holder to move about and consequently the die does not strike the center of the planchet. The thread seems to have been too short in length to hold. A new head will have to be furnished and the Ferracute Company had better send here and see what is needed. Very Respectfully William Steele, Coiner Detailed illustrations and information on Ferracute's coinage press are available in Journal of Numismatic Research (JNR), Issue #1 available from Wizard Coin Supply. This issue also includes original Janvier reducing lathe patents in French with English translation by one of my daughters.

For over a decade I've been collecting information (and data) about the 1900-O/CC silver dollars. (Those who want details of the varieties can go to VAMworld and search the date/mint listings.) As one might expect, speculation is great and data is scarce. If members have any thoughts (ignoring Breen's falsehoods), I'd like to hear them - including collector speculation. Thank You!

Transcription of the letter by George Washington to Henry DeSassure thanking him for his service as Mint Director. DeSassure wanted to return to South Carolina and start the canal project. Other letters suggest he was also fed up with criticism of the Mint. Philadelphia Sunday Morning November 1, 1795 Henry William DeSassure, Esq. Philadelphia Dear Sir, I thank you for the plan of the Santee Canal, which you have had the goodness to send me. If General Vickney has gone more into detail, than is found in the expression of your letter relative to the establishment at Fort Johnson, I should be glad to receive an extract thereof; otherwise the transcript would be unnecessary. It is to be observed, however, that the strength of our garrisons must be proportioned to the means from whence they are drawn. I cannot, in this moment of your departure, but express my regret that it was not accordant with your views to remain in the Directorship of the Mint. Permit me to add thereto, that your conduct therein, gave entire satisfaction; and to wish you a pleasant voyage, and a happy meeting with your friends in South Carolina – being with great esteem Dear Sir – Your Obedient Servant George Washington [Note Below] South Carolina, City of Charleston I do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the original letter, now in my possession, from President George Washington to my father the late Chancellor Henry Wm. DeSassure. December 10, 1850 H.A. DeSassure

The US Mints and New York Assay Office were in almost constant need of expanded vault space. The initial concept of a national mint was to coin gold and silver for depositors and return coins immediately. If strictly followed this approach required only temporary safe storage between deposit and pick-up by the customer. But that was soon found to be an overly generous plan - the country did not have banking and currency control systems capable of absorbing and smoothly distributing the mints' output. Thus, vaults at the mints were almost never spacious enough to avoid crowding. The situation with Standard Silver Dollars (Morgan's design) piled in hallways is well known, but much the same applied to gold, particularly during World War 1 when vast quantities of yellow metal flowed into the New York Assay Office. Gold in the hallways at New York Assay Office …The work of the office is hampered for the sole reason that when large deposits are received it is impossible for use to open and weigh them in quantities larger than $5,000,000 a day, because we have no vault space in which to store the metal while it is being weighed. The result of this is that almost continuously for the last year we have had from $60,000,000 to $10,000,000 piled up in the corridors and hallways of the building, necessitating the hiring of armed guards to watch it at an additional expense to the Government while in the process of being weighed, and resulting in large interest losses to the depositors It also requires us to move by small hand-trucks approximately $15,000,000 of gold in a week, down a long wooden runway, through the public street to the Sub-Treasury… [RG104 E-235 Vol 421. Excerpt from Memorandum dated January 19, 1917 to Assistant Treasury Secretary Newton from Mint Dir. vonEngelken.]

Here's an interesting letter from Scovill Mfg Co. mentioning that delivery of coin blanks (cents and nickels) to the Philadelphia Mint was delayed. Part of the reason was that workmen in the bright dipping department had the "grip" - what we now call influenza or "flu." Scovill supplied all blanks for cents and nickels for many years. It was much cheaper for the mint to buy ready-made blanks than to make their own. The same kind of production problems occurred at Scovill as at the mints, but Scovill seemed more careful in removing defective blanks. However, than did not prevent at least one batch of cent blanks being being contaminated by CuNi blanks cut to cent size.

This telegram - really a personal comment by Director Leech - suggests IGWT was not authorized on the new Bland dollar of 1878. What do readers think?

Many of us have one or more hypocorisms. They’re neither contagious, nor fatal, although one might sometimes draw unwanted attention, or be inconvenient, or even inappropriate. What is a hypocorism? It’s your nickname, pet name, or maybe an augmented or diminished form of a word. In English we have many hypocorisms for money and monetary tokens. Money might be called “moola;” a ten dollar bill can be a “sawbuck,” and so forth. How many American English coin and currency hypocorisms can members come up with?

The subject of adjusting gold and silver coin blanks and planchets is not one that comes up often. The entire world of “Lady Adjusters” is one of limited knowledge and obtuse language. “Standards,” “Lights,” “Heavies,” “Collectors” are not routine coin collector terms, and the Adjusting Room was, itself, off limits to most mint personnel. (The best description of adjusting work will be found in my book From Mine to Mint.) During April 1900, sequestered within the Adjusting Room, plus an adjacent lunch room and lavatory, sixty-two (62) women carefully weighed every gold coin blank and most silver coin blanks. The work was repetitive, tedious, exacting; the room was crowded and often stuffy – windows were always closed to prevent loss of the tiniest fragment of gold. Leather aprons were worn to prevent metal from becoming embedded in clothing, and most ladies wore thin buckskin gloves so gold would not rub off on fingers. This excerpt from an Adjusting Room work report of the Philadelphia Mint for April shows the number of blanks the ladies handled per day. [The image is supposed to be here, but the SW stuck it at the bottom. The column titles require a little explanation: Total Days = Days worked. Average Planchets = Average per day of all types of planchets handled. Silver Dollars = Quantity of dollar planchets handled per day this month. Double Eagles = Quantity of double eagle planchets handled per day this month. Days D.E. = Number of days working only on double eagle planchets. Con’d gold per no. = Quantity of gold planchets the adjuster condemned for all reasons per month. The names are in order of daily average from high to low. As can be seen from the table, Harbison averaged 2,425 planchets during 24 work days and the next highest was Flaherty at 2,239 or almost 200 less per month than the top performer. The lowest performer (number 62, not shown on this page) was Griffitts, with an average of just 720 planchets per day, also for 24 work days. The overall average was 1,466.2 planchets per adjuster per day. Data from these reports was used to determine employee retention in the case of furloughs, reductions-in-force, or reassignment to other duty such as counting, press operation, coin inspection and so forth. [PS: If you enjoyed this little numismatic history lesson, please deposit 50-cents in your computer or iphone coin slot.]

Enterprising coin dealer J. M. Walker had the idea to distribute a card & envelope combination soliciting purchase of $1 and $3 gold coins from merchants and bankers. In early 1900 he wrote to the Mint Bureau requesting permission to quote mintage quantities for both coins on his promotional card. He was told it was OK to do, and when printing was complete he sent the mint a sample. The 3x5 card is two-sided and intended to be attached to a similar sized envelope. Merchants could put any gold they found in the envelope and sent it the Mr. Walker for his "good premium" offer.

Which face of a U.S. coin is the obverse? According to this letter it's the one with the date. What do members think? What about the Lafayette commemorative dollar? See the last post for additional information from Mint Bureau HQ.

Members who have questions about US Mint operations, practices, production, or coinage details are free to post them to this thread. I will then search my database in hopes of finding answers. This is not a perfect arrangement and my database is very far from complete. However, it contains a lot of information from Mint, Library of Congress, State and local archives and personal files that are not available elsewhere. A response might point you to a published reference or present examples of unpublished material. Have fun and enjoy the hobby and challenge of coin collecting. (NOTE: Only about a quarter of my materials are in digital format and can be searched electronically. Other documents are in indexed paper files or JPG images of manuscript. Answers will be the best I can locate, but not necessarily definitive. Use the "coin wrapper" thread as an example of Q/A in this format.)

Many collector have a 1908 double eagle as a type coin or as part of a short date set of Saint-Gaudens double eagles. However, few realize that there are three design/master hub combinations for the year. The most commonly seen is Type I - Short rays on obverse, fuzzy obverse stars, no motto on reverse. This is nearly identical to the original 1907 low relief coin. Philadelphia and Denver only. Type II - Long rays on obverse, sharp obverse stars, no motto on reverse. This combines a new obverse hub created by Charles Barber with the reverse of Type I. Philadelphia and Denver. Type III - Long rays on obverse, sharp obverse stars, motto on reverse. This type pairs Barber's earlier, improved obverse with a new reverse adding the Congressionally mandated religious motto just above the sun. Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco. Most "hoard" coins are Type I, which accounts for their somewhat "soft" appearance. There are lost of photos out there. Can members post pictures of the three varieties from their collections? :)

Does anyone happen to have a good photo of a 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary medal by Cyrus Dallin? Thanks!