growth. Dii Bois in his Pledges of History (1846, 

 second edition 1 85 1) mentions that after the collection 

 was officially established in June 1838, it "has gone 

 on in a continual augmentation . . . specimens of 

 new coinage, domestic or foreign, must be added as 

 they appear." In the same volume Du Bois also 

 describes the early Mint exhibit, located at that 

 time at 17th and Spring Gardens Streets in 

 Philadelphia. 



The suite of apartments in the Mint, appropriated to the 

 exhibition of coins, ores, and national medals, occupies 

 the front of the building in the .second story, and measures 

 sixteen feet wide by fifty-four feet long. (Jris^inally there 

 were three rooms, connecting with each other by folding- 

 doors; the removal of ihesc has made one large saloon, 

 with recesses, very commodious and suitable for the use to 

 which it is applied. I he eastern and western rooms are ol 

 uniform size and construction; the central one has a dome 

 and skylight, supported by four columns; with a corre- 

 sponding window in its floor (protected by a railing) to 

 light the hall of entrance below. 



The ancient coins are displayed in eight cases, mitred in 

 pairs, and placed erect against the walls in the wide door- 

 ways and the middle room. The modern coins are variously 

 arranged; part (including all those of the L'nited States) 

 being in a nearly level case which surrounds the railing 

 above mentioned; and part being in upright cases, disposed 

 along the walls of the middle and west rooms. The ores, 

 minerals, and metallic alloys, are placed in the west room; 

 in the eastern are shown the national and other medals, 

 and the fine beams used for the adjustment of weights. 

 All the cases are fronted with glass, and besides allowing 

 an inspection of every specimen, present an agreeable 

 coup d'oeil on entering ihe room, especially l)v the middle 

 door. 



Visitors arc admitted in prescribed hours, if attended 

 by an officer or conductor of the institution 



Data about the growth of the Philadelphia Mint 

 collection may be gleaned from Mint records pre- 

 served in the National Archives as well as from 

 occasional published notes and reports. Some early 

 illustrations of coins from the cabinet are contained in 

 Jacob R. Eckfeldt and William E. Du Bois' A Manual 

 of Gold and Silver Coins of All Nations, Struck Within the 

 Past Century (Philadelphia, 1842). The illustrations of 

 coins were executed by the medal-ruling machine 

 invented by Christian Gobrecht and perfected by 

 Joseph Saxton. The volume has 16 plates, but not all 

 coins illustrated are frotii the Mint cabinet. The first 

 full catalogue of the collection appeared in 1860 mider 



the direction of James Ross Snowden. Entitled A 

 Description of Ancient and Modern-Coins, in the Cabinet 

 Collection at Ihe Mint of the United States (Philadelphia, 

 1860), it was prepared by George Bull, in charge of 

 the cabinet, with the advice and assistance of Du 

 Bois, at that time assistant assayer and curator of the 

 cabinet. In 1861 Snowden published the Medallic 

 Memorials of Washington in the Mint of the United States. 

 He was very much interested in this particular section 

 of the cabinet and made every effort to enlarge it. 



Notes about additions to the collections were pub- 

 lished by \V. E. Du Bois in "The United States Mint 

 Cabinet," '■*" where he mentions that "the whole 

 number of coins and medals at this time [1874] is 

 6,484," and in "Recent Additions to the Mint 

 Cabinet." '^* Reports in later \ears were given by 

 Patterson Du Bois.'" A design b\- D. A. Schuler 

 (fig. 9) dated 1885 and published in A. M. Smith's 

 Visitor's Guide and History of the United States Mint, 

 Philadelphia, Pa. gi\es a view of the exhibits of that 

 period.'^" In connection with Du Bois' earlier de- 

 scription, it renders a general idea of the numismatic 

 displays at the Mint during the 19th century. In 

 1891, R. A. McClure, curator of the Mint collection, 

 prepared An Index to the Coins and Medals of the Cabinet 

 of the Mint of the United States at Philadelphia, published 

 by the Superintendent of the Mint, O. C. Bobyshell; 

 and in 1894 the Philadelphia Telegraph reported on 

 "Late Additions" to the Mint cabinet; "8,000 coins 

 were on display, the case of current coins stands to the 

 left of the museum door, opposite the C'urator's 

 desk." '5' 



With the completion of a new mint in Philadelphia 

 in 1902, described as "the finest building ever con- 

 structed for coinage purposes in the world," the 

 cabinet was moved to the new location. It was rein- 

 stalled there in sumptuous surroundings and in new, 

 rather ponderous exhibit cases. An illustration 

 (fig. 10) in the Director's report shows a picture of the 

 new displays. '^^ 



^*'' American Journal of .Numismatics (1874), vol. 8, p. 65. 



'*' Ibid. (1877), vol 11, pp. 86-88. 



'""Comptc Rendu," ibid. (1884), vol. 18, pp. 89-91; "Hog 

 Money, etc.," ibid. (1885), vol. 19, pp. 66f. 



''* Reprinted from .VVw Varieties oj Gold and Silver Coins by 

 Jacob R. Eckfkldt and William E. Du Bois (.\ssayers of the 

 Mint, 1851), New York, 1851, p. 29. 



'5' Reprinted in The .\umismatist (1894), vol. 7, pp. 158-162. 



^'"-Annual Report oj the Director of the Mint . . . 1902, Wash- 

 ington, 19C2, plate at p. 76. 



90 



BULLETIN 229: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



