Q. David Bowers
"This whole department will be under the supervision of the DIRECTOR OF THE MINT, and all inquiries and requests, with or without money, must be addressed to him. The medals and coins will be in the responsible custody of one of his clerks, who will also attend to the orders, reply to letters, and keep the accounts. The making of dies and the striking of medals, Proofs and patterns, will be in the charge of the ENGRAVER, and at his responsibility; other officers of the Mint rendering such aid of materials and machinery as may fall within their province. These arrangements, though internal, are here openly stated, with a view to assure the public that there is a system of suitable checks and guards, against undue or secret issues ....
" 'The ensuing Rules are in plain terms, and hardly require a statement of reasons. It may be said, however, in regard to the Rule against striking a coin or pattern after its proper date, that while it seemed desirable that some patterns of former years, which are very scarce or curious should be repeated, yet we could not issue them impartially, without giving them an indefinite number. And if some kinds are thus struck, there would be a call for other kinds; there would be no knowing were to begin or end.
" 'Pieces struck out of date, bear a falsity on their face, and have not the interest or value of a synchronous issue. An uncertainty is also kept up, as to the extent of the supply. And in the case of regular coinage, they so far falsify the Mint Records and Tables, as to the amount of coinage and delivery, or as the very fact of such and such pieces having been coined in any given year.
" 'On the whole, therefore, it seemed a plain course, to let the past go, and begin afresh. And it is a satisfaction to be able to assure all parties, that there has been no resurgent striking in the present Directorship.
"The striking of specimens in other than their proper metal, never much practiced, is to be discontinued. This irregularity has, of course, never been with unlawful intent, and never would have happened, but for the importunate desire to possess something odd, or to avoid the outlay of gold or silver. Such pieces have been struck, as patterns, from the dime of 1792 down to our day; but the united voice now is against using dies meant for gold or silver upon copper or other base metal.
" 'It is proper to say, that before these Rules were matured, advice was sought of several Numismatic Societies, and gentlemen skilled in this branch of study. There has not been an entire unanimity of opinion as to details, but the general tendency was towards the result as herein indicated; and it is hoped that a general approbation will be accorded ....
"RULES
"1. No coins, nor pattern pieces, shall be struck after the year of their date; and to insure this, the dies shall be 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 be 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 a pattern coin, in any but precious metal, will be three dollars 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 in gold; the Proof set of silver and copper, three dollars in silver 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 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 tenor of Pollock's 'rebuke' of former administrations is just what we might expect. No law (?) has been offended by the misdating of coins or the use of dies for striking false metal pieces, or even by the illicit contracts between Mint officials and private parties-no law, but merely public opinion. The revision has thus been undertaken from common consent-for numismatical reasons and for the sake of keeping more accurate ledgers. The profession of equal opportunity is especially touching. This would no doubt explain the emission of two silver dollars, a quarter and a half dollar of 1866, all without the newly adopted motto 'In God We Trust.' The Act of March 3, 1865 permitted the director to append this motto, and patterns for each of the aforesaid denominations, all bearing the new design, were struck during the same year.
"How is it then that in the following year four Proof coins, all in the 'old style,' were struck at the Philadelphia Mint (The existence of the 1866-8 half dollars, half eagles, eagles and double eagles is, of course, a different matter. As Lynn Glaser points out in his article in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine, Nov. 1961, these issues "can be explained by the fact that due to primitive transportation facilities the new dies did not arrive (in San Francisco) until April 14, 1866. By that time, a number of each denomination had been struck with the old reverse.) and that all four found their way into the cabinet of William H. Woodin, later secretary of the Treasury, and an ardent collector of 'pattern' coins?
"Edgar Adams, in cataloguing the Woodin Collection, described the quartet as transitional patterns, an appellation curiously retained by Dr. Judd in his 1959 volume. It is curious because it would imply that they represent something in the way of a new design, struck prior to its adoption, when, in fact, the opposite is true. Genuine transitional patterns for this issue were indeed struck, but, as we have said, in the year 1865, and showing the motto as' it would henceforth appear.
"Pollock, who retired from the directorship in 1866, was reassigned to the post in 1869. When Dr. Henry Linderman took charge in 1867, however, the dies which were to be 'rendered unfit' were still very much in working condition.
"The new director found himself torn between two allegiances. Dr. Linderman himself was an active numismatist. When, in 1887, his estate was being settled, several patterns of an 'unusual character' were seized by Treasury agents at the order of Director Kimball. The incident appears the more curious for the fact that Dr. Linderman was author Of the Revised Statutes of 1873 which specifically prohibited the striking and emission of such pieces ....
"Breen points out that Linderman may have been as much a moving force behind the early Mint chicanery as was his friend and neighbor J.R. Snowden, Linderman, through the political influence of his uncle, Senator Richard Broadhead, obtained the appointment of chief clerk in 1853, the year in which Snowden became Mint director. Both Linderman and Snowden came from the Delftware Water Gap region of Pennsylvania where Joseph Wharton operated the only nickel mine in the United States. It is not without interest that the two peaks of agitation over a nickel coinage coincide with the-periods in which Linderman wielded power at the Mint. In June 1878, he was accused of official misconduct by a congressional subcommittee, Seven months later he died without the issue having been settled one way or the other.