We have another jam-packed issue of the JR Newsletter this
week!
From the editor: Some
of you may occasionally or even regularly receive two issues of the JR
Newsletter via email each week. Trust
me, if this were avoidable, it wouldn’t happen.
Some "technical difficulties" regularly thwart my efforts to
send out the newsletter in an efficient manner.
A zero-cost solution to this anomaly is something that is beyond my
technical ability, but I will keep trying!
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David Perkins wrote:
The Rogers-Whitney-Pogue Gem 1796 Half Dollar with 16
Obverse Stars
This week I received my copy of Q. David Bowers new book,
Treasures from the D. Brent Pogue Rare Coin Cabinet / A National Legacy. The book highlights 100 of the rarest coins
from the Pogue Collection. The book is
formatted with one coin for every two pages, with additional enlarged photos of
the obverse and reverse for select coins.
The coins were numbered 1-100 in the book.
In November 1995 I received my copy of an auction catalog
titled, “Numisma ’95 / Numismatic Rarities for the Collector.” Numisma ’95 was a public auction sale held
jointly by David W. Akers, Rarcoa Inc. and Stack’s Rare Coins. Stack’s offered Lots 1001-1751 in Session 1
of the sale on November 29, 1995. Among the Stack’s offerings were a number of
coins from the Leland Rogers Collection.
I reviewed my copy of the Numisma ‘95 sale catalog this week. Unfortunately, at the time of the sale I was
unable to view the lots in person.
In 1995 my research and collecting interests were focused
primarily on the early U.S. Silver Dollars 1794-1803. I highlighted (marked the
pages with “post it notes”) three lots in this sale. Interestingly, two of the three lots I had
highlighted were Draped Bust half dollars, both ex. Leland Rogers. One was a stunning Gem 1796 16 Stars Obverse
Half Dollar (O-102) and the other a magnificent Gem 1797 Half Dollar
(O-101a). I can’t imagine a nicer pair
of 1796 and 1797 half dollars.
The third highlighted coin was Rogers’
beautifully toned Gem 1794 silver dollar, ex. F.C.C. Boyd and The World’s
Greatest Collection, Lot 1. It is graded PCGS MS66+ today. I eventually had the opportunity to view and
study this exceptional specimen a couple of years ago. Most consider it today
to be one of the finest known 1794 Dollars.
I sure do. [Here is a link to the
PCGS photo of this specimen: www.pcgscoinfacts.comCoinImage/s.aspx?s=6851]
The Pogue-Rogers-Whitney 1796 Half Dollar with 16 Obverse
Stars, is coin “Number 15” in the book, and can be found on pages 60-63. Page 60 has an enlarged photo of the obverse
of this coin, followed by an enlarged photo of the reverse on page 61. The enlargements appear to be in 5X size. This half dollar is graded PCGS MS66
today. A photo of this coin is attached.
“Mr. 1796” (John
Whitney Walter) purchased this 1796 Half Dollar from the Numisma ‘95 Sale. On May
4, 1999 Stack’s offered for sale this specimen as Lot
1778 in the Public Auction Sale “Mr. 1796” The John Whitney Walter Collection /
The coins of 1796. I traveled to NYC to
attend this sale. I was finally able to
view the Rogers-Whitney 1796 Half Dollar in person. And view it I did. I recall that I studied this 1796 half dollar
for nearly a half an hour! To me this is
always the sign of a truly great coin, regardless of the grade – you just want
to keep looking at it!
Per the notes I had written in my copy of the catalog,
bidding on this 1796 Half Dollar opened at $175,000, then quickly was bid at
$180(K), 200, 250, 270, 290, 300, 310, 320, 330, then 360, “last call” was
heard, then a bid of $380K, and finally the coin hammered at $400,000. The total price realized was $460,000
(including the 15% buyer’s fee).
I’ve been told that the Leland Rogers 1797 Half Dollar is
even nicer! It is graded PCGS MS66, and
is coin “Number 6” in the new Bowers book.
Those who like late die states will especially enjoy the shattered
reverse. [Here is a link to the PCGS
photo of this specimen:
http://www.pcgscoinfacts.com/Coin/Detail/6060]
The below photo of the Rogers-Whitney-Pogue 1796 Half
Dollar with 16 Obverse Stars is courtesy of PCGS.
(Click photo to open a larger version)
W. David Perkins
Centennial, CO
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David Finkelstein is
continuing his series of contributions with an article entitled, "The
Waste Book"
The Waste Book
By David Finkelstein
The Mint
was a repetitive process factory. It did
the same activities over and over. Each activity
was triggered by the same event. The
first event in the Mint’s repetitive workflow was the receipt of copper, silver
or gold by the Treasurer of the Mint.
Then, the Director of the Mint issued hand written orders (or warrants)
to transfer the metals from the custody of one officer of the Mint to the
custody of another officer of the Mint.
Eventually, the metals were made into money (coins). The Director then issued warrants to return
the money to the depositors.
When an
officer received the Director’s warrant and the metal, he was responsible for
performing his portion of the required tasks to convert the metal into
money. For example, when the Chief
Coiner received silver ingots from the Treasurer of the Mint, he was
responsible for having the employees in his department roll the ingots into
strips, cut planchets out of the strips, run the planchets through the Castaing
Machine (if required), and strike the coins.
The Chief Coiner did not transfer the coins to the custody of the
Treasurer of the Mint until he received a warrant from the Director of the
Mint.
Each
warrant was on its own piece of paper.
Log, receipt and account books were maintained by Mint officers and/or
their clerks to organize the individual warrants that were issued by the
Director. One such log was The Waste Book.
Note that
the Copper Coinage Act of May 8, 1792 gave the Director of the Mint the
authority to purchase up to 150 tons of copper and strike Half Cents and
Cents. The copper workflow was different
than the silver and gold workflow, and will therefore not be addressed in this
article.
Years ago,
when I first heard of The Waste Book, I immediately thought of silver and gold
strips that had planchets punched out of them.
After all, those punched out strips were surplus or waste from the
planchet cutting process that were later recycled through the Mint furnaces,
melted, formed into ingots, and rolled into more strips. The Waste Book had nothing to do with
surplus, leftover, or unused metals from any of the Mint process steps. The Waste Book was a temporary ledger. Entries were usually made in chronological
order. Based on my analysis, I believe an
entry was made in the Waste Book when the activity started. When all tasks for that activity were
completed, the entry was checked off in the left column, and the entry was
rewritten in The Bullion Journal. See Figures 1 – 4. The Bullion Journal will be discussed in a
future article.
There are
multiple Waste Books stored at the National Archives and Records Administration
in Philadelphia. Each book is 10 inches
wide and 14 inches high. Note that the
first Waste Book covers the period July 18, 1794 through December 31, 1806 and
has over 400 pages.
The Waste Books contain entries for the following types of
activities:
1. Silver and gold bullion deposits
from a Depositor to the Treasurer of the Mint (or “Treasurer”). Included are the depositor’s name, deposit
receipt number, assay report number, gross weight, standard weight and dollar
value. See Figure 1.
2. Beginning 11/1796, bullion delivered
from the Treasurer to the Melter & Refiner.
3. Bullion ingots delivered from the Treasurer
to the Chief Coiner. See Figure 2.
4. Copper, silver and gold coin deliveries
from the Chief Coiner to the Treasurer.
See Figure 2. The Director of
Mint warrants that triggered these entries are commonly referred to as
“Delivery Warrants”. For reasons unknown, copper delivery entries in the Waste
Book began in 1796.
5. Delivery of coins for yearly assay, from
the Chief Coiner to the Treasurer, as required by The Mint & Coinage Act of
April 2, 1792
6. Assignment of Receipt. These entries were triggered by a document
signed by a judge that transferred the delivery of the coins from the original
depositor to a another person or entity.
See Figure 3.
7. Delivery of coins from the Treasurer
to the Depositor or the Depositor’s Assigned Receiver. See Figure 4.
8. Quarterly balancing of
bullion-in-process for the Treasury Department, as required by The Mint &
Coinage Act of April 2, 1792.
9. Corrections to errors in entries
previously made.
Figure 1 – Silver
Bullion Deposit Entries
Figure 2 – Bullion To
Chief Coiner & Coins From Chief Coiner
Figure 3 – Assignment
of Receipt – May 8, 1795
Figure 4 – Return of
Coins To Depositor
There were
5 major phases required for the conversion of silver or gold bullion into
coins:
Deposit Bullion → Assay
→ Melt & Refine → Strike Coins → Return
Coins
From the
entries in the Registers of Silver Bullion / Deposits, Registers of Gold
Bullion / Deposits, and The Waste Book, we now know who deposited what with the
Mint and when, how long it took the Mint to convert each deposit into money,
and when the money was returned to the depositor / assigned receiver. Most importantly, The Waste Book identifies
the contents of each Delivery Warrant.
To be
continued...
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Richard Meaney wrote on two topics:
First, a reminder to JRCS members and other collectors who
plan to attend the Portland, OR
ANA Show in March. The John Reich Collectors Society will meet
on Friday, March 6 at 8:30 AM
in Room E143. The highlight of the
JRCS meeting will be a presentation by Winston Zack. Winston has developed a brief presentation on
the topic of contemporary counterfeit bust dimes.
Winston says, "there is a growing interest in
contemporary counterfeits in the last couple of years, especially with
Davignon's updated second edition of his book, "Contemporary Counterfeit
Capped Bust Half Dollars," and "Early Quarter Dollars of the United
States Mint" by Rea, Peterson, Karoleff, and Kovach. It would be only natural to continue the
discussion of counterfeiting America's
earliest Federal silver coinage by presenting on counterfeit bust dimes."
If you are a JRCS member or just interested in the topic,
you are welcome to attend! The meeting
will conclude in time for attendees to get to the bourse for the "opening
bell."
Second, If you have an 1835 LM-5.1 Capped Bust Half Dime, I
am interested in hearing from you. I
have recently found a few so-called 1835 LM-5.1 half dimes that are
misattributed, including one in my collection.
These half dimes showed die cracks from the rim to the top of S2, one or
more cracks between E2 and S2, and/or full or partial cracks from S2 to the
scroll (any of these cracks make the coin an LM-5.2). Granted, it takes CLOSE EXAMINATION to see
these cracks on some coins. I ask
collectors who have the 1835 LM-5.1 remarriage to take a close look at the coin
and see if any of these die cracks are present.
Good light and good magnification are a must. What I am finding is that fine die cracks are
frequently present on coins that had been categorized as LM-5.1, typically
because the die cracks are so tiny that they escape view if one is not intently
looking for them.
If collectors would do this and contact me (the JR
Newsletter email address works best), I would greatly appreciate it. I would be happy to inspect the coins for you
if you wish (send me an email and we can coordinate). If you have quality images of your coin(s) and
would like to share, that would be great too.
I will attend the ANA Show in Portland,
so if you have a half dime you would like me to look at, please bring it with
you!
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We also received a response to a question posed in last
week's newsletter:
In last week’s issue of JR News, Don Stoebner asked the
question:
Why no participation at this upcoming EAC? I was told by an
officer of EAC that this was not decided by EAC. The joint meeting and
information sharing seemed to work rather well.
I feel that the members of JRCS should be given a good answer for this
change.
In reply to Don
Stoebner’s question in last week’s JR News, the following is copied from Volume
24 / Issue 2 (July 2014) of the John Reich Journal, under “Editor’s Comments,”
page 1:
"The officers of EAC contacted us after the convention
with some concerns that they did not feel the arrangement has gone as well as
expected. After much discussion between
the officers we felt that it was best to mutually agree to end the
arrangement. JRCS members are still
welcome to attend the conventions and even setup if they hold an EAC
membership, but we will no longer sponsor a happening at the show. We would like to thank the officers of EAC
responsible for the arrangement over the last few years."
There will be JRCS members attending the EAC Convention in Dallas
this year. Any member of EAC can attend
the EAC Convention. Many JRCS members
are also EAC members, and thus can continue to attend the EAC Conventions. The main difference now is there will not be an
official silver happening event at EAC.
Some JRCS members have been talking about holding something
similar to the silver happening event at the summer ANA
Conventions. If you have an interest in
an event like this you are encouraged to bring up your ideas. One could write to the JR Newsletter or discuss
at the JRCS Annual Meeting at the ANA
Convention in Chicago this
August. Or volunteer to take the lead on
hosting an event such as this. The
annual ANA Convention continues to attract
the largest number of JRCS members of any coin show.
In addition, over the years various JRCS members have had
fellow collectors bring to the JRCS Hospitality Suite at the summer ANA
Convention certain die marriages to compare the coins, die states, striking,
etc. For example, there were five
different die states of the 1798 B-11, BB-111 Draped Bust, Heraldic Eagle
reverse die marriage at one Hospitality Suite meeting, brought by four
different collectors (including Jules Reiver).
Those who collect Capped Bust Half Dollars have hosted similar types of
events numerous times at their meetings at ANA
Conventions, as have the collectors of half dimes, dimes, and early quarters.
