The Portland ANA Show has
just closed and the first of perhaps many more reports from the show has
arrived with this issue of the JR Newsletter.
In addition, we have an original contribution from David Finkelstein and
a request for help from a member seeking to add to his numismatic library.
First, from John Okerson:
Wanted – I need 5 issues of the John Reich Journal to
complete my set. Does anyone have Volume 4 #3, Volume 5 #3, Volume 8 #2,
Volume 8 #3 and Volume 17 #1 for sale? johnokerson(at)gmail.com
John
------
David Finkelstein provided an original work, “The Bullion
Journal”.
The Bullion Journal
By David Finkelstein
The first
United States Mint used a double entry General Ledger system. When metals or
coins were transferred from the custody of one officer of the Mint to the
custody of another officer of the Mint, one officer received a credit to his
copper, silver or gold General Ledger account (or account) and the other
officer received a debit to his copper, silver or gold account. In addition, each depositor had their own
account. As multiple bullion deposits and
coin returns were made, the Mint was able to keep track of the
bullion-in-process amounts for each depositor.
The Mint
& Coinage Act of 1792 required all Mint accounts to be balanced quarterly.
Total credits (or the total value of
the bullion / coins transferred into an officer’s custody) minus total debits (or the total value of the
bullion / coins transferred out of an officer’s custody) better equal the total
value of the bullion / coins that were still in the officer’s custody. If not, silver and/or gold was missing, and
the officer was held accountable. In
addition, the total value of the bullion / coins in the custody of all Mint
officers better equal the total value of the bullion-in-process amounts for all
depositors.
The Mint
used two similar, but different, ledgers to maintain an audit trail for all of
the above activity; the Waste Book
and the Bullion Journal. Whereas the Waste Book appears to have been a
temporary ledger, the Bullion Journal was the Mint’s official ledger. When an entry from the Waste Book was transferred
to the Bullion Journal:
1.
The
date of the entry was most likely when the activity was completed (whereas the
date of the Waste Book entry was most likely when the activity was started).
2.
The
entry reflected any corrections after the Waste Book entry was made.
3.
The
entry contained the General Ledger account numbers in the left column.
Based on my
analysis, I believe the total value of a Bullion Journal entry was credited to
the top account number and debited from the lower account number. See Figures 1 and 2. The exception to this was when coins were
returned to a depositor (see bullet 4 below).
Based on Bullion Journal entries, the accounting entries for converting
silver bullion into money were as follows.
General Ledger account numbers are in ().
1.
After
a silver bullion deposit was assayed, the value of the deposit was credited to
the Treasurer of the Mint’s silver bullion account (# 5), and debited from the
depositor’s account.
2.
After
silver bullion was transferred from the custody of the Treasurer of the Mint to
the custody of the Chief Coiner, the value of the transfer was credited to the
Chief Coiner’s silver bullion account (# 16), and debited from the Treasurer of
the Mint’s silver bullion account (# 5).
3.
After
silver coins were transferred from the custody of the Chief Coiner to the
custody of the Treasurer of the Mint, the value of the transfer was credited to
the Treasurer of the Mint’s silver coin account (# 31), and debited from the Chief
Coiner’s silver bullion account (# 16).
4.
After
coins were returned to a depositor, the total value was credited to the
depositor’s account. The respective
value of the gold, silver and/or copper coins returned was debited from the
Treasurer of the Mint’s gold coin account (# 36), silver coin account (#31), or
copper coin account (#28). If the Mint
charged the depositor a melting and refining fee, that amount was debited from
a miscellaneous bullion profit and loss account (# 48).
The
accounting entries for converting gold bullion into money were identical as
above, except the following gold account numbers were used: Treasurer of the
Mint’s gold bullion account (# 10), Chief Coiner’s gold bullion account (# 25),
and Treasurer of the Mint’s gold coin account (# 36)
By
analyzing the entries in the Bullion Journal, the Mint’s chart of accounts can
be extracted. The following is a partial chart of accounts:
|
Acct
|
Account
Description
|
|
Acct
|
Account
Description
|
|
2
|
Treasurer’s uncoined
copper
|
|
60
|
David Rittenhouse (Phila)
|
|
5
|
Treasurer’s silver bullion
|
|
61
|
Charles Gilchrist (Phila)
|
|
10
|
Treasurer’s gold bullion
|
|
62
|
Bank of Maryland (MD)
|
|
13
|
Chief Coiner’s copper
|
|
63
|
Bank of the United States
(Phila)
|
|
16
|
Chief Coiner’s silver
bullion
|
|
64
|
Bank of North America
(Phila)
|
|
25
|
Chief Coiner’s gold
bullion
|
|
65
|
Moses Brown (MA)
|
|
28
|
Treasurer’s copper coins
|
|
66
|
Joseph Searight (NY)
|
|
31
|
Treasurer’s silver coins
|
|
67
|
James Fisher (Phila)
|
|
36
|
Treasurer’s gold coins
|
|
68
|
John Vaughan (Phila)
|
|
43
|
Misc. profit & loss on
copper
|
|
69
|
Joseph Anthony (Phila)
|
|
48
|
Misc. profit & loss on
bullion
|
|
70
|
Elliston & John Perot
(Phila)
|
Prior to
December 31, 1795, those that deposited silver and/or gold bullion with the
Treasurer of the Mint, received their money from the Treasurer of the
Mint. Quantities of coins, by
denomination, that were returned to each depositor, were logged in both the
Waste Book and the Bullion Journal. See
Figure 2.
Figure 1 – Bullion
Journal Entries: 04-Feb-1795 to 31-Mar-1795
Figure 2 – Bullion
Journal Entries: 30-Jul-1795 to 31-Jul-1795
------
Winston Zack wrote about his experiences in Portland:
Fellow Bust Silver collectors,
I am writing this the night before I leave Portland
after a wonderful ANA show. This was my
first trip to the continental NW. And I was happy to visit two states I had not
been to previously, Oregon and Washington.
In addition, and quite coincidentally, I had a business trip
here in Portland earlier in the
week and extended my stay, obviously, for the coin show. I must say, Portland
is a cool town to visit and my stay here was wonderful.
First and foremost, I kicked off the two days I was at the
show with a presentation to the JRCS on contemporary counterfeit Bust Dimes.
Many thanks to Richard Meaney and Brad Karoleff for setting up a room only a
month before the show. The meeting was attended by about 10 members, most being
local northwesterners. It was great to meet members who I have only previously
communicated with via email, or had not met before. My presentation was well
received by all who attended, and I greatly appreciate the support. It was an
even greater success because David Kahn, Jim Matthews, Gerry Fortin and Kirk
Gorman supplied images and/or counterfeit examples to share with the attendees.
In addition, Rich Uhrich rounded off the counterfeit coin memorabilia on
display by bringing a contemporary 1815 Bust Half Dollar mold, which he has for
sale. With that, many thanks for all who attended and expressed interest in the
subject. This presentation will be followed-up by an article in the John Reich
Journal, and hopefully more presentations in the future!
Now, for the show! There were plenty of amazing, rare,
attractive, cool coins to see and buy. Bourse traffic was relatively modest,
but picked up quite a bit on Saturday. I ended up striking out on pieces I was
looking for, but instead had a fun time talking with collectors and dealers.
That said, on Saturday I found a poor, old 1830's dated Bust Half (ex. jewelry)
and turned it into a rolled coin with the Portland ANA
design stamped on the obverse (see photos below). I know some collectors will be upset with
what I did, but there wasn't much else going for this coin, and now it's a cool
novelty!
All the best from the West,
Winston
------
Finally, a note from the editor: I plan to write something next week about my
experience at the Portland ANA. I'm a bit too travel weary today to do much
more than cobble together this week's newsletter and send it off to interested
readers worldwide. I commend the dealers
and others who travel to coin shows week after week, year-round. I don't know how you do it!
Richard
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