San Fran archives, 1870 corner stone, time capsule

[Kevin J Flynn]

In researching for my Lib Seated books, starting with the half dime and Dollar, I had gone through all of the national archive records in Philadelphia from 1835 through 1874, including correspondence between Phila and the branch mints.

 

I saw the reference to working dies needed for the cornerstone of the new San Fran mint building from SF Superintendent LaGrange dated May 27, 1870.

 

The cornerstone including one of each denomination, including those that were not scheduled to be struck at the SF Mint in 1870, including the half dime and dollar.

 

We know that an extra half dime, three dollar gold, and about 10 Dollars were struck.

 

Curious if there is any internal communications at the San Fran Mint regarding the need for dies, wanting a time capsule, striking the coins, the actual laying of the corner stone, distribution of the Dollars.

 

I had gone to archives in Bruno, CA when I was researching for my 1894-S dime book, and found a wealth of information there that was not in Philadelphia or College Park.

 

Curious if anyone lives in that area that can check starting around September of 1869 when the working dies would have been requested from Philadelphia to around June of 1870.

 

I cannot afford to fly out there to check for this. Writing books on coins is not very profitable, actually I will probably loose money on this latest book, but that is ok, love the research and sharing the knowledge.

 

Thanks

Kevin

kevinjflynn88@yahoo.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BillJones]

I have read that the San Francisco mint cornerstone has never been found despite searches for its location. Perhaps there never was one, and the unique coins we have today were diverted from their original purpose. The unique the 1870-S three dollar gold piece was mounted on a watch fob and carried around by a mint official for a number of years. Perhaps the other coins ended up in other hands that preserved the coins instead of one who decided to use them for jewelry.

[Conder101]

One interesting question is Since they made an extra half dime, 3 dollar gold,and a few silver dollars, did they make one or more extra quarters that haven't shown up yet?