Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez - The United States Mint in Philadelphia

IMAGES
of America

THE UNITED
STATES MINT
IN PHILADELPHIA

The United States Mint was authorized by a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives on March 3, 1791, signed by Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. The US Mint was established in Philadelphia by an act of Congress on April 2, 1792. (Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration.)

ON THE COVER: Mint employees inspect new dimes in the Philadelphia Mint press room in 1916 before the freshly struck silver coins are distributed into circulation. (Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Francis B. Johnston Photograph Collection.)

IMAGES
of America

THE UNITED
STATES MINT
IN PHILADELPHIA

Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez

Copyright 2018 by Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez
ISBN 978-1-4671-2919-0
Ebook ISBN 9781439665794

Published by Arcadia Publishing
Charleston, South Carolina

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018936847

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In memory of Mom, with gratitude to my loved ones for their support, and for the late, great Ed Reiter, who opened many doors in my numismatic writing career.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My work on Images of America: The United States Mint in Philadelphia would not have been possible without the arduous efforts of many individuals who provided their time, energy, and resources. Among these, I must first thank the team at the US Mint, including Thomas V. Johnson, Todd Martin, Gwen Mattleman, and Tim Grant.

Also critical to this project were historians Leonard Augsburger of the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Portal, Roger Burdette, and David W. Lange, who took much of their time to review this book and provide me with their incredible feedback and insight. Augsburger, Burdette, and Joel Orosz offered several dozen photographs, which greatly contributed to this book coming to fruition. Also gracious with providing much historical photography were Bill Gibbs and Jeff Starck at Coin World. Others who lent photographs for this project include Ron Brackemyre at Heritage Auctions; John Zieman and Alexandrea Zieman of Z-Mans Coins in Florida; numismatic historian Robert W. Julian; John Frost of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club; Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, New Hampshire; and Alex Doty.

Many others shared their time, knowledge, and support, including renowned US coin expert Scott Travers, Dr. Michael Fuljenz at Universal Coin & Bullion, Lynnette and Jim Walczak at TheFunTimesGuide.com, John Feigenbaum and Patrick Ian Perez at Coin Dealer Newsletter, Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker at CoinWeek, Lynn Varon of COINage, Karen Lee of the National Park Foundation, Karie Diethorn at Independence National Historical Park, Erin Beasley at the Smithsonian Institute, Michael Seneca at the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, Ed Moy, John Mercanti, Don Everhart, and Heidi Wastweet.

Last but not least, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my beloved Jeanine Baker for putting up with the many, many long hours I spent researching and compiling information and photographs for this project. I also thank my dad, Frank Rudy Hernandez, and Michele Hernandez for their loving parental guidance and support. My sister Kelly McMorrow-Hernandez must also be recognized for her efforts in keeping reading alive at the local library where she works, and my heartfelt thanks go to her fianc, James Libengood, for his support.

INTRODUCTION

The United States was a young nation when Congress approved An Act Establishing a Mint and Regulating the Coins of the United States (widely shorthanded as the Mint Act or Coinage Act) on April 2, 1792. Throughout the nations first years, Americans purchased goods and services mainly by exchanging copper and silver coins struck by individual states, or private trade tokens placed into circulation by merchants. Many who have a general awareness of early American money may have also heard of wampum, consisting of whelk-shell and clamshell beads. Wampum was primarily traded among Northeastern Native Americans and early American colonists, but it had mostly withered away from usage by the early 18th century, long before the United States became an independent nation. Foreign coins from nations such as England, Germany, France, and Spain were also legal tender during the Colonial and early Federalist eras. Among the most widely circulated foreign coins was the Spanish milled dollar, or pieces of eight, upon which the value of the US dollar was based.

By the early 1780s, many great thinkers proposed concepts for a US monetary system, leading to the production of several privately minted proposal coins. The earliest known among these, the Plain Nova Constellatio quint, was struck in Philadelphia under the authority of the US government in 1783. This experimental, or pattern, coin is made from silver and would have been worth 500 units in a decimal system of coins ranging in value from 5 to 1,000 units. A second pattern, additional to the plain piece mentioned here, features the words NOVA CONSTELLATIO, a Latin phrase meaning a new constellation.

Other privately minted pattern coins were struck in the following years, and many remain popular today with numismatists (those who study money). Among these pieces is a particular type of gold coin struck by Ephraim Brasher, a New York jeweler who was a friend of George Washington. In 1787, Brasher produced a coin now known as the Brasher doubloon, which was valued at $15 in New York currency and roughly equal to the value of a Spanish doubloon, or 16 Spanish dollars. Another widely known coin that was struck in 1787 is the fugio (a Latin word intended here to mean time flies) cent, a copper piece featuring an image of a sundial. The legends on the coins, which bear the phrase MIND YOUR BUSINESS, are generally credited to founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Hopes for an official US coinage system became a reality after the ratification of a revised US Constitution in 1789. Two men who helped lead the charge for creating a US monetary system were Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. Hamilton, a man who never served as US president, was chosen by Pres. George Washington to become the nations first secretary of the treasury. Hamilton proposed ideas on monetary policy to Congress on January 28, 1791. In his report, which is partly based on findings made by Jefferson, were proposals for an official government mint.

Hamiltons vision for a national mint included the groundwork for the types of coins that would be produced at such a facility, including his concept for the US dollar, which was based largely on the Spanish silver dollar.

A few weeks later, on March 3, Congress passed a resolution to establish a national mint but failed to appropriate necessary funding. These matters were resolved the following year with the passage of the Mint (or Coinage) Act of 1792, which established the US Mint in Philadelphia, a city that from 1790 through 1800 served as the nations capital and was among the largest cities in the English-speaking world. Also authorized with the Mint Act was the nations official coinage system. These included $10 gold coins or eagles, $5 gold coins or half eagles, $2.50 gold coins or quarter eagles, a dollar coin minted from silver and worth 100 cents, half-dollars with a face value of 50 cents, quarters worth 25 cents; dismes (now called dimes) valued at 10 cents, half dismes (or half dimes) of 5 cents, copper one-cent coins, and copper half-cent coins, which were discontinued from production in 1857. The US Mint took several years unrolling the first official circulating examples of each denomination, and others not mentioned here came along in later years with additional legislation.