of your courtesy, and I shall feel much gratified if vou will 

 be pleased to accejn them. 



Availing myself ol this opportiuiily to express my best 

 wishes for your good health and prus|3erity, 



I have the honor to be. Sir, 



Yoiu' obt. .Servant, 



Kuroda Kiyotaka 

 Minister of Colonization 



General U.S. Grant 



Legation of Japan 

 Washington 

 January 7. 18H1. 

 My Dear Sir: 



I have the honor to state that a ho.\ has reached the 

 Legation this morning, wliich contains a small collection 

 of the ancient C'oins of japan, intended as a i^rescnt for 

 you, from the Department of Goloiiization. and .is a slight 

 return for you liberality and thoughlfiilness in sending to 

 His Imperial Majesty one of your blooded horses. It affords 

 me great pleasure to forward the same to yoiu address by 

 Adam's Express today, and to enclose a letter from General 

 Kuroda. together with its translation and a descripton 

 of the coins. 



1 av.iil mvself of this occasion to present to you and 

 Mrs Cirant, the compliments of the season and best wishes. 

 Very Respectfully and .SincereK' yours, 

 Voshida Kiyonari 

 General Li.S. Grant 



List of Old Coins 

 Presented to 



General U.S. Cirant 



.\o. 1. Yudzuriha Ban. 

 " 2. Higashiyaina Ilowo Maru Ooban. 



" 3. Kiyosu Ooban. 



4. Kameyama Ooban. 



5. Voshi Mame B.m. 

 " 6. Taiko Fukjuban. 



7. Tasima Ooban. 



Antes. 



Xo. I . Was made during the reign of the Shogun ;\shikaga 

 Voshimasa in the sears Hotok and Kotok— 1450-54 .\.D.— 

 and it is said th.ii the coins were used as rewards. 



No. 2. Was made in the Ginkaku (Silver Palace) at 

 Higashiyaina in the Province of Yamashiro, by the Shogun 

 ■Xshikaga 'I'oshimasa in the year Bun Mei — 1480 /\,D. 



Xo. 3. Was nwde by Udaijin Ota Nobimaga in the year 

 "S'eiroku - 1 559 .\.D. when he \sas the Ruler of Kivosu in 

 the Province of Owari, and the coins were distributed among 

 his rel.iiners for war-like e.xpjoiis. 



.\o. 4. Is said to have been made for war purposes by Akechi 

 Mitsuhide the ruler of Kameyama — in the Tenth year of 

 1 ensho — 1582 ,\.D. — in the Province (jf Tanba. 



Xo. 5. Is said to have been made for prizes by Kikkawa 

 Motoharu, the ruler of Idzumo province, in the years 

 Tensho— 1570-8fJ A.D. 



Xo. t-). Is said to have been made bv Kwanbaku I'oyotomi 

 Hides'oslii in the years 'lensho and Keieho — 158(1 90 .-X.D. 

 and was used as a high prize. 



Xo. 7. Was made in the Province of Tasima, after the end 

 ol the Kiushu war by Kwanbaku I'oyotomi Hideyoshi 

 in the 14th and 15th years of Tensho— 1586-87— A. D. 

 and was distributed among the soldiers who had distin- 

 guished themselves. 



Appendix VIII 



The United States Mint Collection 



The Mint cabinet was officially started in June 

 1838, but its liistory goes back to the beginning of the 

 Mint in 1792-1793. The Chief Coiner, Adam Kckfeldt 

 (fig. 12), connected with the Mint since its inception, 

 "led as well by his own taste as by the expectation 

 that a conservatory would some day be established, 

 took pains to preserve jiiaster-coins of the different 

 annual issues of the mint, and to retain some of the 

 finest foreign specimens, as they appeared in deposit 

 for recoinage." ''"^ Among the coins deposited by 

 Adam Eckfeldt was, for instance, the famous Brasher 

 Doubloon (fig. 15j. When a special annual appropri- 

 ation was instittited for this purpose by Congress in 



1838. the collection took permanent form and grew 

 continuously. 



The eagerness of the Mint assayers William E. 

 Du Bois (fig. 13) and Jacob R. Eckfeldt to complete 

 the Mint collection contributed to its continued 



"'' William E. Du Bois, PleiJi;ei of History. A Brief Aceouni 

 of the Collection of Coins Belongini; to the Mint of the United .States. 

 .More I'aTtieularly the Antiejue Speciriiens. Philadelphia, I84f), 

 pp. tif. .\ ''.Second edition, with additions" appeared as .ni 

 appendix to Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. Du Bois, 

 .Veir Varieties of Gold and Silier Coins . . . New York, 1851. 

 See there the passage quoted by us, pp. 20f. It was reprinted 

 under the title "Collection of Specimen Coins at the Mint, 

 Phil.idelphia" in The .\'umismatist (1937), vol. ,50, pp. lOlf. 



PAPER 31 : HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



89 



