Fig. 47. — Five-Cent P.atterns, 1909, some with portrait of Washington. 



Becau.se of the lack of trained personnel the entire 

 collection was cataloged only superficially. During the 

 years 1923-1948, ho\ve\er, Belote and James R. 

 Sirlouis, a scientific aide, prepared a detailed listing of 

 the United States coins transferred to the Museum 

 from the United States Mint."^ In 1944 the numis- 

 matic reference collections were installed in two 

 rooms at the north end of the Arts and Industries 

 Building."' A vault provided with an electrical alarm 

 system was prepared for the storage of the collections 

 two years later."* Each of these measures marked a 

 slow but steach' progress toward the establishment of 

 the national numismatic collections as a clearh 

 defined imit imder its own curator."'' 



'!— ngKT 



Fig. 48. — P.JiTTERN Half Dollar, 1916. Designed 

 bv .A. .X. Weinman. 



The grouping of specimens in the reference collec- 

 tions according to accessions — a practice formerK' in 

 general use in the Di\ision of Numismatics — was 

 abandoned in 1956, and all specimens were arranged 

 b\- subjects. State bank notes, for example, were 

 grouped by states, banks, denominations, types, and 

 then by dates. This kind of rearrangement of the col- 

 lections was particularK' time-consuming because 

 many of the specimens had no identification as to 



'« Ibid. 



"" US AM Rftmrl. 1944, p. 70. 



"" USNM Report. 1046, p. 7(i. 



''"The SI Report. 1947, jnentions at pai^e VIII for the first 

 time the "Section of Numismatics," Theodore T Belote in 

 charge. 



their accession and catalogue numbers, or e\-en their 

 s\.ibject classification.'*' 



.'\n extraordinarv effort was made in 1949 in clean- 

 ing the 4,200 silver coins on exhibit. Upon Dr. Bhun's 

 ad\'ice a ,') percent solution of sodium c\anidc was 

 used to remove the tarnish, after whicli the coins 

 were carefiilly washed and dried. .A group of 100 

 coins was then lacc[uered experin^entally with Kry- 

 lon,"" and this method of protection against tarnish 

 was adopted for the entire collection. L'nfortunately, 

 howex'er, unskilled technical assistants often used the 

 laccjuer to excess with detrimental residts Xo the ap- 

 pearance of some of the specimens.'"- 





• / * 



■i*> 



Fig. 49. — Ten-Dollar Gold Piece issued by 

 Templeton Reid in Lumpkin County, Georgia, 

 1830. ,\ product of the first "gold rush" in the 

 United .States. 



This method of spraying the coins and medals with 

 Krvlon was re-examined after 1956 and the results 

 were not considered fidly satisfactory. Fref|uently the 

 laccfuer would "build up" around fine details and 

 give an unnatural, glossy, and unesthetic look, es- 

 peciallv to bronze coins and medals. In addition. 

 Krylon cannot be readih' removed if aged,'"'' and 

 sometimes resists prolonged applications of thinners 

 or soUents. Immersion in boiling water may be effec- 

 tive in removing old coats of laccjuer, because of the 



™ US.\.\I Report. I9,i8, pp. 4Rf. 



i"i VS.\.\I Report. 1949, p. 77 .ind op, cit., 19'-,L'. pp. .'ilf. 



'"^ US.\.\l Report, 1956. p. If! 



"" US.Wf Report. 1958, p. 49. 



PAPER 31: HISTORY f)F THE N.\TIONAL NUMLSMATIC COLLECTIONS 



29 



