A treatise on the coinage of the United States branch mints

Front matter

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Bran

Preface

The coins of all other mints than that at Philadelphia are distinguished from its unmarked pieces and from each other by certain capital letters, indicating the city where they were struck, and are hence commonly known as ' Mint Marks.'

The writer, a few years since, after enriching his almost complete collection of silver and minor issues of the parent institution with all attainable varieties, became much interested in gathering United States coinage bearing the letters to which he has referred. The attraction of his pursuit grew with each piece acquired, each series completed, and each unknown variety found, until his modern dates quite divided his consideration with the old. The difficulties encountered were the lack of any guide-book to this new territory, the remoteness of the very few collectors who were also attracted to it, the absence of information among collectors at large, as well as dealers and experts, wise in older coinage, and consequently the entirely hap-hazard search for desired Mint Marks amid large stocks and private accumulations, because such pieces w r ere not distinguished from similar Philadelphia dates, and saved in appreciation of a separate table of values.

The need of distinct estimates was evident. Preliminary searching proved that the rarity and consequent value of pieces of the same date from different mints were scarcely ever equal, and that some dates necessary to complete Branch Mint sequences never came to view.

The Mint Report, annually issued by the Government, was the first substantial ground of information.

Among its voluminous statistics are found lists of the coinage of every mint in the United States to the year preceding the publication of the Report with the not-always consecutive annual amount of the coinage of each denomination. This knowledge was valuable as indicating what dates a collector should look for, and what should be accounted scarce or rare from limited coinage.

But these statements had to be established by investigation and experience. It often happens that but a portion of the registered coinage of any piece is issued for circulation, the remainder being remelted. Occasionally an entire coinage has either never left the mint or has been sent abroad and recoined there. Thus the Report announces the coinage of several dates in different denominations never known to numismatists ; but it omits also any reference to certain pieces which many collectors possess, and which are genuine and stubborn facts. The dates that exist in visible shape are, therefore, the essential things for a collector, and it became necessary in our new field of investigation to find out how far the Mint Report was realized in attainable coins.

Persistent attention and search brought their reward. Date after date was found, series after series completed, mintage after mintage classified until a collection was formed, from which w T e are now able to verify nearly every piece reported in the Branch Mints' coinage of silver from 1838 to the present year 1893. Of the total two hundred and seventy-seven dates, of all denominations, which these mints coined in the interval named, we lack but seven, and, knowing that three or four of these exist, have no doubt the remainder were coined also and will yet be found.

The unrealized dates of the Report are, therefore, confined to old Philadelphia coinage entirely, and the ' Mint Mark ' field can no longer be avoided as indefinite and unsurveyed. The Mint Report is, indeed, only at fault in regard to Branch Mint coins from its omissions. No mention whatever is made of the existing Half Dime of 1838, the Quarter of 1849, and the Half Dollar of 1838 (all of the mint), or of the excessively rare Dahlonega Mint gold Dollar of 1861.

With these exceptions the Report of our Branch Mint coinage gives the dates of each series accurately, and we are convinced, from an examination of large quantities of money in different sections of the country, that its statements of the amount of each date struck can be confidently taken as a basis for deciding relative or actual rarity, with due allowance for the unknown difference between coinage and issue, the location of the collector and other points referred to elsewhere.

As the Mint Report is not easily accessible to many collectors, we have digested all statistical information upon these topics of date and amount of coinage that could be of any value to them, and note in these pages the coins that are either scarce or rare from restricted number.

Here the usefulness of the Mint Report ends.

The VARIETIES of many dates are in no way referred to by it, though these are of the highest numismatic interest. We therefore have searched for and studied them with especial enthusiasm.

, Some of these varieties are already known and have been described, but of more than an hundred recorded in this Treatise from examples in our possession, the greater portion are new to collectors and are now first published. They include large, small, and differently placed Mint Marks, high and low dates, broken dies, and other peculiarities which will give exceptional value to our lists beyond.

The estimates given of the rarity of these varieties, as well as of Mint Mark dates are the result of close attention to not only large quantities of money in circulation, but to the courteously submitted stocks of twenty coin dealers in various cities, whom we know personally, and our search has been so widespread, and the specimens seen and collected so sufficient for the purpose, that we feel assured the investigations of others will confirm all statements here made. Where a coin is not referred to as rare or scarce in these pages it should be understood to be of ample issue, and to be probably found without long search by any one having access to large amounts of money in prominent cities, especially those in the section where the coin is produced, but many more pieces would be scarce, of course, to a collector in a secluded place unfamiliar with bank tellers or trades' people. If, on the contrary, the chance of location enables a collector to find several coins of a date or variety we consider rare, he is the more fortunate, and will do well to preserve them. New varieties will, doubtless, be found from time to time as more active and general search is stimulated.

Such a search has only been delayed by the absence of exact lists of coins known to exist, close descriptions of them, and, in fact, some other information than that given in occasional catalogues of coin sales of stray Mint Mark pieces which the owner has usually acquired by chance on account of the date or condition alone.

This needed information, and our views at large upon the collection of Branch Mint coinage, we have decided to present publicly, as a cause of new interest in United States coinage at the beginning of its second century of existence, that others attracted to Mint Marks may better know what they require ; that general attention may be given to a most fascinating branch of numismatic study, and that rare or scarce Branch Mint pieces may be sooner rescued from circulation and new varieties found.

NOTE.

The Mints already mentioned, in the order of their organization after the Philadelphia Mint, were for many years strictly " Branch Mints " of the parent institution.

At present the direction of all mints of the United States is from a bureau in the Treasury Department at Washington, but as the older Mint still supplies the dies, issues the widest range of coinage, and is to be so enlarged as to have a capacity for any future demand, the term ' Branch Mint ' may still, from a numismatic point of view, apply to the others, and, being the most concise designation available, is employed in the present treatise.

We have also, to avoid monotony of words, used the terms "coinage " and " issue" interchangeably where unimportant, having explained a

that all of a coinage may not necessarily be issued. The Mint Report gives the coinage only, the amount of issue being never published.

The mints furnish but the coins of the current year, whether the applicant be a banker or numismatist. Anterior dates can only be found in circulation or, of higher condition, in dealers' hands.

We have written this treatise upon Branch Mint coinage entirely from personal investigation upon the lines given in the preface, and ha\e thus far seen or heard of nothing but fragmentary references to the subject in a printed shape, which have in no way added to information already acquired.

There may have been, however, in old catalogues or numismatic publications, which we have not chanced to meet with, lists of Branch Mint pieces, or well-studied arcicles covering, to some extent, the ground we have passed over, and even giving additional details.

If such exist we should be glad to know of them, and credit any knowledge they may give upon our subject, but as they have not been mentioned during our several years' interest in Mint Marks, we must consider any such articles as either very brief, very doubtful, or very inaccessible, and offer our researches as an original contribution at a time when some hand-book to this coinage is much needed.

Any information of the discovery of varieties of Mint Marks, not recorded in this Treatise, will be gladly received by the writer, and, if duly authenticated by inspection, will probably be published later in a supplementary sheet. Care should be taken that Mint Marks, flattened by wear, are not mistaken for varieties.

For the unacquainted reader it may be stated that the writer is not a Dealer. His artistic profession is better known to Philatalists than Numismatists from the reproduction of his painting at the U. S. Capitol, entitled 'The Recall of Columbus/ upon the 50-cent Columbus Stamp; but coin collecting with him is simply a relaxation from professional work, and, in common with all private collectors, he sells only occasional duplicates. Among these, however, are a number of Mint Marks accumulated for the study of varieties.

Persons requesting information should enclose the return postage to assure a reply.

This Treatise can be procured either through coin dealers and periodicals devoted to numismatics or directly from the author by sending the price in a money order, a postal note, or in a greenback so wrapped as to be unseen through the enclosing letter and envelope and at the sender's

risk.

A. G. H., 1618 17th Street, N. W., Washington, D. C.

THE COINAGE OF THE

UNITED STATES BRANCH MINTS,

OR SILVER AND GOLD PIECES,

COMMONLY CALLED

'MINT marks;

THE NEED OF AMERICAN COLLECTORS.

The early coinage of the United States is very interesting to numismatists, both from its types and its varieties. Not only were the designs numerous, but the association of different ' obverses ' and ' reverses,' the slight differences of the copies by different engravers of the same design, the overlooked blunders of many of these engravers, the letters and figures of different sizes, the overdating of coin of preceding years, the lettered or plain edges, the thick or thin planchets, and various other differences cause the existence of very many dissimilar pieces of the same date and value.

Over fifty varieties of the copper Cent of 1794 have been classified, and as many of the Half Dollar of 1795. The 1817 cent has nearly twenty dissimilar obverses, while, as all experienced collectors know^, the number of early copper and silver United States coin that have approximately ten varieties, is too numerous to mention. The collection of these many varieties of the first fifty years of our coinage is thus very fascinating. But from the year 1840 the figure of a sitting woman, looking backward, seemed a good enough design for almost every thing in silver issues.

Taste and fastidiousness diminished, while mechanical methods of exactly reproducing and multiplying a die reached such perfection as to leave no appreciable difference between any two of a given date in thousands of pieces coined. For many persons the pleasure associated with the gathering of their early pieces has been succeeded merely by the slight interest of continuing their series, of having the later coins in ' proof/ or in possessing the very few of these which are really rare. Some well-meant attempts have, to be sure, been made in the new dies of 1892 and in the Columbian Half Dollar to awaken numismatic and artistic interest, but they greatly dispose the collector to slumber again until a worthy ' relief is inspired.

We should on this centennial year of the first United States coinage (1893) advocate a return to the superb designs of our earliest dates were it not for the confusion which might result from much wear or from intentional alterations of the figures on modern pieces. Let us hope some imaginative brain and skillful hand may yet be authorized to produce new coins with the dignity, beauty, and simplicity of the old.

In the meantime there is a generally overlooked or neglected means of dispelling all apathy in connection with our modern coinage. There is a region of activity and study appreciated by a few which it is the object of this Treatise to open and map out that the many may hasten in to enjoy and possess its riches.

And this is the territory whose acres and quarter sections are now free.

The collection of the coinage of the Branch Mints of the United States, in addition to that of Philadelphia, will not only sustain interest in the Nation's coinage as a whole, and especially in the issues of the last half century, but will be found worthy of the enthusiasm of both the young collector and the most advanced numismatist.

The many causes of the attractiveness of the study and collection of ' Mint Marks ' are given as follows :

CAUSES OF ATTRACTIVENESS.

1st. Mint Marks in their progressive issue at New Orleans, Dahlonega, Charlotte, San Francisco, and Carson City show the direction of our country's growth and its development of mineral wealth.

2d. Mint Marks in their amount of issue in varied years at different points offer the monetary pulse of our country to the student of finance.

3rd. The denominations of any one Branch Mint, in their irregular coinage and their relation to each other at certain periods, indicate curiously the particular needs of the given section of the land.

4th. A knowledge of the Branch Mint coinage is indispensable to an understanding of the greater or less coinage of the Philadelphia Mint and its consequent numismatic value.

5th. A knowledge of the coinage of the different Branch Mints gives to many usually considered common dates great rarity if certain Mint Marks are upon them.

6th. Mint-Mark study gives nicety of taste and makes a mixed set of pieces unendurable.

7th. Several dies were used at Branch Mints which never served in the Philadelphia coinage, and their impressions should no longer be collected as mere varieties.

8th. The very irregularity of dates in some denominations of Branch Mint issues is a pleasant exercise of memory and numismatic knowledge.

9th. This irregularity in date, and in the distribution of coinage, gives a collection in most cases but two or three, and rarely three or more contemporaneous pieces, and thus occasions no great expense.

10th. As the Branch Mints are so far apart their issues have the character of those of different nations, and tend to promote correspondence and exchange, both to secure common dates in fine condition and the rarities of each.

11th. The United States coinage has a unique interest in this production at places far apart of pieces of the same value and design with distinguishing letters upon them.

12th. As Mint Marks only occur in silver and gold coins they can be found oftener than coins of the baser metals in fine condition, and neither augment or involve a collection of the minor pieces.

13th. As Mint Marks have not heretofore been sought, or studied as they deserve, many varieties yet await in circulation the good fortune of collectors who cannot buy freely of coins more in demand, and who, in having access to large sums of money, may draw therefrom prizes impossible to seekers after older dates.

14th. The various sizes of the mint marks 0, S, D, C, and CC, ranging from the capital letters of average book type to infinitesimal spots on the coin, as well as the varied location of these letters, defy any accusation of monotony, and are far more distinguishable than the characteristics of many classified varieties of old cents and ' colonials.'

15th. Mint Marks include noble enough game for the most advanced coin hunter, as their rarities are among the highest in value of United States coinage, and their varieties permit the gathering in some issues of as many as six different modern pieces of the same date.

16th. The face value of all the silver Mint Marks to 1893, being less than one hundred and fifty dollars, they are within the means of any collector, as, aside from the economy of those found in circulation, the premiums for rarities are yet below those on many coins of far inferior intrinsic worth.

17th. As the new Mint at Philadelphia will have a capacity equal to all existing United States Mints, it is probable that others will be greatly restricted or even abolished in no long time, and that Mint Marks will not only cease as an annual expense, but be a treasure in time to those who have the foresight to collect them now.

RARITY AND VALUE.

The value of a coin depends upon its rarity. Old coins have been reduced in number by many causes and made rare, even when the issue was large. But the influences of recoinage, export, loss by fire or flood, and excessive wear do not apply to modern pieces.

Mint Marks, therefore, depend primarily for rarity upon a known small coinage, or, what is practically the same, though not as evident, a partial issue only of the amount coined. This partial issue is more apt to occur with large silver pieces than small, as the full coinage of the latter is generally required.

If the coinage of given dates of Mint Mark pieces is not limited, their scarcity is influenced by many causes and uncertainties that do not apply to older American pieces now almost entirely in dealers' and collectors' hands. While loss of a portion of each year's coinage must be conceded even to modern pieces through restricted issue, export, and injury, other conditions than loss also govern Mint Marks more than Philadelphia coinage. The latter comes from one source, and can be gathered through regular channels, the former from many, which are very little known.

A collector in Philadelphia may have a fine set of that mint, and even of the O mint, and wait long before finding the majority of S mint pieces in circulation. One in Carson City may similarly, after gathering fine series of the CC and S mints, have his patience much tried in attempting to pick up a line of the mint coinage of any series, although many of the dates exist, of course, in large numbers. Hence Mint Marks have an indirect rarity and value depending upon the location of the collector.

Yet, although he will usually collect the pieces of the nearest Mint in better condition than others, there are at times exceptional causes to the contrary, for when the banks of a community need subsidiary coin and the nearest Mint cannot supply it, shipments are made from a distant one and the collector has unexpected opportunities.

CONDITION also affects the value of Mint Marks to a greater extent than of Philadelphia Mint issues. Though the Branch Mint coinage is all relatively modern, gradual circulation across the length and breadth of a continent causes most pieces to be much worn. We have been surprised at the low average condition of thousands of dollars' worth of coin which we have seen counted.

The lower denominations, the Dimes and Quarters, suffer particularly from their more common use, and but few Halves and Dollars are very fine. They servea collector but temporarily, and, if a date of unusually rapid transfer from a distant section does not come to his view from time to time, he can only depend upon the uncertainty of correspondence to secure choice pieces by mail. He may find the coins of the nearest Branch Mint in high condition, but wait long to perfect his series of the others. Even the most accessible Mint Mark pieces are difficult to gather uncirculated. Hundreds of the Philadelphia issue have been for a long period saved annually in this condition, but very few coined elsewhere. We know, from prolonged visits to New Orleans and acquaintance with the very courteous officials of the Mint and sub-treasury there during the winters of 1892-'3, that about the only pieces of each year's coinage that escape circulation are the very few written for from a distance and those taken by visitors as keepsakes ; but we were less surprised at this when we sought several months in vain for collectors in New Orleans and found no reputable coin dealers other than money brokers.

As to San Francisco, we know from correspondence that the coinage of the mint there has been very little collected, and is most difficult to procure of even a few years back in uncirculated condition. We have heard of no collectors in Carson City, Dahlonega, or Charlotte who might search current money or bank accumulations for the coins of these mints in past years.

Why is it that the South and the far West neglect such great numismatic opportunities ? As a striking illustration of the result, we mention that the Twenty Cent piece was, in 1877, limited in coinage to but five hundred and ten ' Proofs ' struck, of course, in Philadelphia. In 1876 there were ten thousand specimens of this coin struck .at Carson City, yet, while any one can buy the proof of '77 for about three dollars, the '76 CC piece is excessively rare in any condition, and would, even if worn, command two or three times that price from a Mint-Mark collector. Therefore a series of Branch Mint dates is not only difficult to gather individually and collectively in any condition, but is especially so in the state numismatists most desire. There are, of course, some exceptions in dates of every denomination, which from very large issues are only of value when uncirculated, but in general the preceding statement holds. An uncirculated series is thus a worthy object of numismatic ambition, and choice Mint Marks will assuredly yet command far higher prices than the same dates from Philadelphia, or even than some of their own scarce pieces greatly worn.

Meanwhile Mint-Mark values must vary, more or less, with the growing demand, the supply discovered, the condition, the location of the collector, and the estimates of sellers and buyers in different sections of the country. As their number increases and the good judgment of dealers grows with daily observation of the supply and demand and the prices obtained at sales, we may expect to see the worth of each Branch Mint coin determined in given condition with something of the accuracy pertaining to the pieces issued at Philadelphia.

But existing rare dates of Mint Marks and uncirculated pieces should be searched for without delay that the supply may be known. Persons near the Branch Mints with access to large quantities of coin have a great opportunity for rich collection and very profitable exchange in this new field, and upon their activity partly the question of rarity and value for a while depends.

UNITED STATES SILVER MINT MARKS.

THE THREE CENT SILVER PIECE

Was issued at the New Orleans Mint in 1851 only. It is found in many collections as a variety, and is not rare, though having but an eighth of that first year's coinage in Philadelphia. The is conspicuously placed within the points of the large C on the reverse.

THE HALF DIME.

This very interesting little coin, which was the first authorized by the United States Government, and coined at Philadelphia in 1792, is also in the front rank of Branch Mint issues. As such it was peculiarly the coin of the people, for in the extreme South and West no smaller denomination has ever, been in use. It was struck in New Orleans, with a number of Dimes and a few specimen Half Dollars, in 1838 when that early Branch Mint was organized. The Half Dime coinage continued there annually until 1860, with the exception of the years 1843, '45, '46, and '47. The civil war then terminated the mint coinage, but in 1863 the San Francisco Mint took its place and coined Half Dimes annually, with the exception of the year 1870, until 1873, when, as the nickel piece had proved more convenient, the coin was abolished. Its fixed limits and never-conflicting mint pieces add to the interest and economy of possessing a set, as no annual addition is involved. The mint series numbers nineteen dates, but successive varieties found extend the writer's set to at least thirty-six.

THE MINT HALF DIME COINAGE.

These pieces are as follows : 1838 (of which the issue is not recorded in the Mint Report) is without stars, with a large in the wreath on the reverse, and is rare. There is also a variety with stars and a small o, which is very rare. 1839 is with stars (as are all to 1860), and has a small o. There are, apart from the perfect die, two varieties of broken dies. In one the break is from the elbow to the nearest star; in the other the break is on the reverse from the of ' of ' to the L of ' half.' 1840 is found with and without the sleeve. The former has a small o, and is very rare ; the latter has both the small o, which is rare, and the large variety, which is very rare.

1841 has large and small o varieties, both being scarce.

1842 has a small o only, and is very rare. There was no coinage in 1843. 1844 has a large 0, which is very rare, and a small o, which is rare. In 1845, '46, and '47 there was no O mint coinage. 1848 has a large and a small o, both rare. 1849 has a large O only, and is the rarest O mint half dime. 1850 has a large and a small o, the latter being very rare. 1851 has a large 0. 1852 has the same only, and is very rare. The large O continues in 1853, of which date there are two varieties, one with arrows, being common, and one without, rare. There is also an exceedingly rare variety with a broken die, which gives the date the appearance of being over '51. 1854 has a large 0, which is sometimes close to the letters and sometimes to the bowknot. It is a common enough date. 1855 has a large O, and is scarce. 1856 has a large 0, and high and low date varieties. 1857 has a high oval and a low round o. 1858 has a large 0, and the ribbon and stem at right touching in one variety and well apart in another. 1859 has a large with high and low varieties, both being scarce. 1860 is without stars, the legend replacing them, and has a different wreath on the reverse. The o is small, and, for the first time, is under the wreath instead of within it. There are high and low o varieties.

We have also two worn specimens of 1837 without stars, and sufficient traces of a small o in the proper place to convince us that some Half Dimes were coined experimentally in New Orleans in that year with a die similar to the one then used in Philadelphia, although the New Orleans Mint was not regularly organized until 1838. As the coinage of Half Dimes at New Orleans in the latter year was not recorded, though well known, we are the more assured of the authenticity of our '37 mint pieces which were found in New Orleans, and we consider them excessively rare.

While the half dimes of '37, without stars, was coined in Philadelphia that variety of '38 was issued only at New Orleans, all struck at the parent mint having stars. The rare mint dates we review in order, 1849, '44, '42, '52, '38, and '48, the rarest first.

THE S MINT HALF DIME COINAGE

Bears a very small Mint Mark, which, with one exception, is under the wreath. The dies of the coin are those of the same date of the New Orleans and Philadelphia Mints, a seated Liberty surrounded by " United States of America" and a wreath of x wheat, &c, on the reverse.

The first five dates, 1863, '64, '65, '66, 'and '67, were of small coinage, and are scarcer than most of the preceding dates, but by no means as rare as the similar Philadelphia dates, whose places they generally hold in collections. 1884 is the scarcest of the five, followed by '83. 1868 and '69 are more common. In 1870 no Half Dimes were coined in San Francisco. 1871 is the only date with the S within the wreath, and is exceedingly scarce. 1872 and '73 have the S below as usual, and the latter is somewhat scarce. We have discovered no varieties in the S mint coinage, our set thus numbering ten pieces.

Since the Half Dime was abolished in 1873 the inconvenience of the small piece has resulted in the annual remittance to the Treasury and the Mints of hundreds of dollars worth which street car companies, etc., are glad to have destroyed. Consequently very few Half Dimes now exist in circulation ; their general scarcity and rarity is augmenting, and the small space a collection occupies will assure them ever increasing favor.