Fig. 8. — Lincoln ^[EDAL by Jvilcs Edouard 

 Roinc. 1909. 



iiiiirkecl: "I roiincJ that the si/'c and iiiiportanci' ul the 

 collection has lieen \er\- niateriali\- increasecl siiue 

 m\ last \ isit to the Mint in Phiiaclel[5hia and that tlie 

 .icce]3tancc ol' tliis collection will place the .Nation- 

 al Museum in the liont rank of the museums ol 

 the workl so far as the science of nimiismatics is 

 concerned."" "' 



In 1923 the United States Mint collcctit)n was trans- 

 ferred from Philadelphia (fi£;s. 9-11) to the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. This numeric.tlK extensi\e collec- 

 tion not onK- increased the holdiu'^s ol the national 

 cabinet, hut, throutjh the historical connotations ol 

 many of its pieces, also auu;mented the importance ol 

 this cabinet, (for the liistorv of the Mint c(illeetion 

 and the details and documents coneernm'.; the 

 transfer see Appendix \''III.) 



.\ total of 18,291 specimens were included in the 

 transfer, increasine; the holdinsjs of the national 

 nunnsm.Uic collections from 21,523 to 39,)! 14 items. 

 In addition to the numismatic material, the Mint 

 transferred (il4 numismatic books selected by Belote 



from the specialized hbrar\ .it the Phil.idelphia Mint 

 in December 1924. 



As a result ol the decision b\ (Ihief ('oiner .\dam 

 Eckfeldt (fi;;. 12) and Mint .\ss,iver William E. 

 Du Bois (fit;. 13) to retain the finest numismatic 

 examples that were struck or appeared in deposit 

 for recoina^e, the Mint collection is rich in rare 

 specimens. Foremost amon^ these are early issues 

 (fi,a;s. 14—15), early patterns (fi,2;s. 16-19), early gold 

 proofs (figs. 20-24), great rarities in the gold series 

 (figs. 25-29), historically imjjcjrtant specimens (figs. 

 30-36), as well as rarities in the later pattern series 

 (figs. 37-48). Tlie Mmt"s rt-tention polie\' included 

 also the historic. ilK important private gold issues 

 (figs. 49-56), as well as rare loreign strikings (figs. 

 57-60), medals (figs. 61-62), plaquettes (figs. 63-64), 

 and decorations (figs. 65-66). 



Despite these etTorts, the United States coins series 

 is not complete. "A cursory examination ol the 

 contents of the collection will re\eal its exceedingK 

 lragnientar\ conditKin,"" noted T. L. Clomparette, 

 curator of the Mint, in his "Cataloguer's Note"' to the 

 Mint catalogue.'"' There are \er>' lew branch mint 

 issues and, e\en ainoni; the Philadelplua Mint 

 coinages, regular strikings are often missing while 

 man\ of the proof coins are present. To augment the 

 holdings, there ha\e been frec)uent purchases of an- 

 cient, medieval, and foreign coins as well as United 

 St.ites coins. A 1914 listing of 4()9 L'nited States 

 medals in the collection showed that, while the 

 uroup \vas incomplete, ollieial medals were well 

 represented. 



.\nother important contribution from the L'nited 

 States Treasury was several engraved steel plates 

 used bv the Confederate States government for the 

 issuance of paper currencies in 1861. These plates 

 for 5-, 10-, 20-, 50-, and 100-dollar notes were seized 

 bv Major General B. V. Butler at New Orleans in 

 .April 1862 and sent to the Secretarv' of the Treasurv 

 (fig. 67).--^ 



-' For tlic importance of thf collrrtion, sec US.\'.\t Report, 

 l')L':5, pp. 126f. 



--Catalogue of Coiiu, l o/.ens, and Medals in the .Xumnmatie 

 Colleclionot the Mint of the United Slates . . ., I'll4cd., p ()7-'.. 



=3 USNM Report, 1926, p. li:!. 



1>APER 31: HISTORY OF TFIF NATIONAL NIjMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



11 



