Page No. 

 31 



32 



1841, February 



11 [?] pieces of copper coin pt. b\ Lieutenani 

 [blank] 



March 



A siKer coin of [blank] pt. bv Mr. Fisher. 



Appendix IV 



The National Institute 



A. Numismatic Collections, 1841-1846 



Four •■Bulletins of the National Institute," ItUi 

 1846, published in \\'ashint;tun contain records of 

 donations of numismatic material receixed from aijont 

 70 diflerent donors duriu" that period. '-'- 



ArraiiEjed by categories, insofar as is possible, the 

 Institute's collection consisted of: 7t) I'nited States 

 coins; 160 or more ancient Greek and Roman 

 pieces;'"' 1,810 medieval and modern bronze .md 

 silver coins; 6 modern gold coins; 1 Russian platinum 

 coin; 580 or more paper currencies, most of them 

 .American C'.olonial and Continental issues; and 2011 

 medals, of these about 54 United States pieces. 

 These figures must be regarded only as estimates 



'-- How.ARD L. .\DF.I-snN, 7 /ii' Anh-jutin .\unj!smalu- Soa<'/\ 

 l858-1958{New York, PJ-iii), p. 5, points out that ""It is question- 

 able whether there were actually three hundred numismatic 

 collectors to be found in the United States in the year 18.5(1." 

 1 Ic draws this conclusion from a letter by Edward Cogan to the 

 editor printed under the title "Concerning the Coin Trade in 

 .America" in the American Journal of Aumismatics (New York, 

 March 1867), vol. 1, pp. H6f. .\ctually Cogan indicates (p. 87) 

 that "it may be fairly questioned, whether, at this time there 

 could have been one hundred persons named, that were Coin 

 Collectors, in the wliole of the United States." While assuming 

 that Cogan had in mind only active collectors his statement 

 may be accepted only with caution and it certainly gains an 

 entirely different perspective considering the large number ol 

 donors and donations received by the Institute between 1841 

 and 1846. It should also be considered that a large number oi 

 the donations were coming from a relatively limited geographical 

 area in the United .States. 



'-' The number of ancient coins was probably much larger, 

 possibly close to one thousand pieces. In fact, included among 

 the modern bronze and silver coins is a "C'ollection of Coins, 

 etc. eight hundred and fifty-three Copper, thirteen Silver" 

 mentioned in the Tfitrd Bullrlm, page 377, under February 

 loth, 1845, without indicating the name of the donor. This 

 may well be the "collection of ancient coins" shipped by 

 George Moore, United States Consul at Trieste, by the Caniitia 

 to New York, as he announced to the Institute in a letter 

 dated June 22, 1844. Cf. Third Bulletm, page 365. 



because the exact number of specimens recci\"ed is 

 not gi\-en in e\-ery entry, f )f these donations received 

 during a period of six years, only 2 percent of the 

 total was United States coins. They included a 

 "complete collection of dimes," '-' and a half dollar of 

 1 792,'-' possibly one of the extremely rare Washington 

 pieces. The cabinet did include, however, a sizable 

 number of C;olonial and C^ontinental notes, among 

 them 67 X'irginia issues.'-'' 



\\"orth\- of note among tiic Lnited States medals 

 represented arc 49 national medals sent in 1844 by 

 Franklin Pcale, chief coiner of the Philadelphia 

 Mint.'-' Of particular interest is the listing attaclicd 

 by Peale which contains several significant remarks 

 confirming a fact known from other sources — that in 

 1844, the presidential series issued by the Department 

 of Indian Affairs did not include medals of Presidents 

 Washington, John .Xdams, and Harrison. Peale 

 emphasized the fact that the national medals were 

 usualh" struck in silver. 



.■\mong the list of donors are the names of many 

 prominent personalities of that period. The Honorable 

 and Mrs. Joel Roberts Poinsett, Secretary of War 

 (1837-1841), one of tiie founders of the National 

 Institute and its first president, contributed many 

 significant coins and medals, among them a Russian 

 platinum piece. '-^ Governor Kirke Paulding of 

 New York, tiie popular writer and one-time Secretary 

 of the Navv (1837-1841), donated among other 

 pieces 8 ancient Greek and 45 Roman coins.'-"' 

 Members of the diplomatic corps and foreign repre- 

 sentatives also contributed in a large measure to the 

 increase of the collections. Charles Serruys, charge 

 d'affaires of Belgium, for instance, presented several 



'-'* 'lhn,l Bulbiiii of th,- Proerrdwgi of the National Institute for 

 /he I'lomolioii of Scii-me. U'rnhiii!;ton, D.C. Frbruaiy, W-12, to 

 l-ehiuarv. 18/5. p. 347 



I-' Second liullelin . . . Miiiih. IHII, lo Fehiuary, 1842, p. 224. 



1-". I hud lintletin. p. 322. 



I" Ibid., p. 355. 



'■!» First Bulletin, p. 43; Second Bulletin, \>\i. 74, 83. 



'2» Third Bulletin, p. 340, 



P.APER 31 : HISTORY OF THK N.ATION.M, NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



67 



