The unpublished 1823 Mint Report

[disme]

The American State Papers is a well-known source for the early mint reports.

Some years, however, were never printed and thus missing from these volumes.

Several of these unpublished reports have been copied and will be posted for those

interested in having complete sets of such material.

 

.............................................Mint Report for 1823

 

Mint of the United States

January 1st, 1824

 

Sir:

 

I have the honor of laying before you, another Annual Report of the operations of the Mint.

 

From the statement of the Treasurer, herewith transmitted, it will appear, that, during the

last twelve months, there have been struck at the Mint

 

...............In gold coins, 14,485 pieces, amounting to ….............……$ 72,425

...............In silver coins, 2,152,000 pieces, amounting to ….............. 895,550

...............Making in the whole, 2,166,485 pieces amounting to … $ 967,975

 

It may not, perhaps, be deemed uninteresting to state, that of the Silver deposited at the

Mint for coinage during the last year, amounting to 1,027,719 dollars, that brought from

Mexico & S. America, amounted to no less than 766,000 dollars.

 

It will be observed, from the above statement, as well as from former Reports, that the

deposits of Gold are becoming very inconsiderable. In fact, Gold Coins are now seldom

seen in circulation. This, no doubt, is chiefly owing to the legal relative values of Gold

and Silver in the United States 15 to 1 in the pure metals of equal weights; while in most

parts of Europe, & in the West Indies, the proportion in commerce is considerably higher.

This circumstance must, therefore, operate both against the importation of Gold into the

United States, and in favor of its exportation.

 

........................................I have the honor to be &&

........................................Rt Patterson

 

[To] James Monroe

President of the United States

 

.........................................................................[Table]

The table is not printed here but indicates the following coinage: 14,485 half eagles,

1,694,200 half dollars, 17,800 quarter dollars, and 440,000 dimes. (There was no

copper coinage in 1823.)

 

[RWB]

Neat..... Will we ever have a complete set?

[MarkW]

Very interesting stuff. The silver coinage totals 2,152,000 pieces amounting to $895,550.

[disme]

Neat..... Will we ever have a complete set?

Well, sort of. I intend to post the missing reports – 1797, 1817–18, and 1822 –

as time permits. The American State Papers are online at the Library of

Congress website so all of the other reports through 1827 will then be readily

available. The additional ones through 1837 will also be posted if there is

sufficient interest by forum members.

 

Most of the post-1837 reports can be obtained via Google Books.

[disme]

Very interesting stuff. The silver coinage totals 2,152,000 pieces amounting to $895,550.

Thanks. I miscopied one line & it is now corrected.

[DaveG]

I've found that all of the Mint Annual Reports from 1824 through at least 1911 are available online through one or more of 1) American State Papers from the Library of Congress' website; 2) Google Books; 3) HathiTrust and 4) the FRASER section of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank's website.

 

FRASER actually has the Annual Reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, which include the Post-Civil War Mint Annual Reports, the Annual Reports of the Comptroller of the Currency, etc. Sometimes the Mint Annual Reports included in the Secretary of the Treasury's reports are abridged, however.

 

I haven't looked in any organized fashion, but I have also seen Mint Annual Reports from up to the 1920s online as well.

[DaveG]

Not to be (too) pedantic, but for the benefit of anyone who's just becoming familiar with the early Mint reports:

 

In addition to the brief report of the type posted above by disme, there are also three tables (marked A, B and C) that accompany the Mint Annual Report.

 

The tables for 1823 can be found at this link at American State Papers.

 

I have no idea why the report disme posted wasn't printed in ASP when the three tables were.

 

"tis a mystery"

[RWB]

"tis a puzzlement" ---

[disme]

Not to be (too) pedantic, but for the benefit of anyone who's just becoming familiar with the early Mint reports:

 

In addition to the brief report of the type posted above by disme, there are also three tables (marked A, B and C) that accompany the Mint Annual Report.

 

The tables for 1823 can be found at this link at American State Papers.

 

I have no idea why the report disme posted wasn't printed in ASP when the three tables were.

 

"tis a mystery"

There is some confusion here. The materials noted by DaveG are actually the annual

tables prepared by the Comptroller of the Treasury. These exist in printed form (with

minor exceptions) through 1837 and can be found in the American State Papers.

The comptroller’s reports were based on the accounts submitted by the Mint treasurer

to the First Auditor of the Treasury.

[DaveG]

disme,

 

Thanks very much for that explanation. I had previously thought that the tables were prepared by the Mint to "accompany" the Director's brief report of the period.