is illustrated on plate XIX, 1."^ These listings of the 

 two coins of identical dates are confirmed in later 

 editions oi the Mint catalogue prepared b\' Thomas 

 Louis Comparette,"" and, in fact, both of the 1838 

 sovereigns have been in the Smithsonian since the 

 transfer of the United States Mint collection to 

 Washington on Mav 29, 1923. 



Assuming th? "continual augmentation" of the 

 Mint collection, and with 104,960 gold sovereigns in 

 the Smithson deposit of 1838 froni which to choose, it 

 seems likely that special circumstances led to the 

 presence in the Mint collection of two identical coins 

 of 1838. This strongh suggests tliat the Smithson 

 deposit made by agent Rush did not contain so\ereigns 

 from dates other than 1838.'-" Had all dates issued 

 for the 1817-1838 period been represented it might 

 be expected that at least some oi the later dates would 

 have been in the Mint collection, but they are not. 



Perhaps the simplest and most obxious explanation, 

 for assuming that the two 1838 sovereigns in the 

 Smithsonian Mint collection were chosen from the 

 Smithson deposit is that Richard Rush — a lawyer, a 

 former Attorney General and Secretary of State, and 

 the appointed agent of the United States in acquiring 

 the Smithson bequest — tried to obtain coins of full 

 weight. Considering the large quantitv of so\ereigns to 

 be remelted and recoined, this was a most impcjrtant 

 factor. C^onsequently the\ had to be in mint condition. 

 The obvious choice was to acquire coins of the most 

 recent mintage, 1838, for that date itself would guar- 

 antee against any possible weight loss through circula- 

 tion (fig. 2). 



Appendix II 



The Columhian Institute's 

 Numismatic Collections 



In the minutes of its meetings, as well as in other 

 papers of the Columbian Institute preserved in the 

 Smithsonian Archi\'es, Miscellaneous 92, we find 

 records for approximately 60 accessions. The iirst 

 donation, of 107 coins, was recorded at the meeting of 

 December 17, 1825. These were presented by Dr. 



Tobias Watkin.s, a meml:)er of the Institute. The 

 second donation, recorded on .Xugust 12, 1826, con- 

 sisted ol 110 ancient copper coins collected by officers 

 of the L'nited States" squadron in the Mediterranean 

 in and aroimd Tunis and transmitted on their behalf 

 by Lieutenant Bell. Finally, in 1833, the Institute re- 

 ceived from I. H. Causten, Jr., a medal commemo- 

 rating the reform of the C^onstitution in Clhile. 



The Institute had been housed in the L'nited States 

 Treasury building from 1820 to Decern Ijer 7, 1822, 

 when it moved to the basement of City Hall. It re- 

 mained there until the latter part of 1824, when a 

 Room 44 was assigned for its use in the Capitol 

 building, under the library. We must assmne that this 

 small numismatic collection of 218 items was kept 

 with the other objects or "curiosities"" in tlie Institute's 

 cabinet. 



Appendix III 

 John Varden's "Washini^ton Museum" 



John \ arden, according to his own account, had 

 been a resident of the District since 1803. His decision 

 to open a museinn was prompted by the fact, as he 

 noted, referring to the period before 1829, that three 

 persons had opened and made very great collections 

 with the help of generous citizens, and then moved 

 away from Washington, "taking the man\ rich and 

 scarce donations with theni thus leaving the .scat of the 

 goN'ernment without so valuable an institution."" 



In 1843 \'arden became a self-appointed "curator"" 

 of the articles sent to the National Institute by the 

 United States Exploring Expedition (1843-1853). 

 W'hen these materials were mo\'ed to the Smithsonian 

 in 1858, he moved with them, and continued as an 

 '"arranger."" His diary for 1857-1863 is preserved in 

 the Smithsonian Archives. In January 1865 his health 

 failed and he died on Fei)ruar\- 10, at the age of 74 

 years.'-' 



\'ardcn"s records of his museum and its numis- 

 matic collections are preserved in the Smithsonian 

 .\rchives under Miscellaneous 52. In general they are 

 rather fragmentary and fairly continuous only for 

 1830. For the months of Januars through .\pril 1830, 



"'' .Sec also Eckfeldt and Uu Bois, op. cit., pi, VI, H, 



' " Catalogue oj Coins, Tokens, and Medals in the .Numismatic 



Collection oj the Mint of the United Stales at Philadelphia. Pa. (2ml 



ed., Washington, 1911,', and 3rd cd. l'.U4). Part II. p (4(i, nos. 



202-203. 

 '-" A check of the United States Mint records at the Nation.il 



Archives was inconclusive in this respect. 



'■' 'Ihr obitu.iry iii I he Ereiiin« Slai of Saturday, February I 1 , 

 18()."). recounts his museum career while 7 he .iValional Repuhlican 

 of the s.ime date mentions that he wa.s oriKinally from Baltimore 

 and that he served under CJencral J.ickson ,it the battle of 

 New (Means. 



PAPER 31 : HISTORY OF THK NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



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