18 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1959 
The division of political history received important new additions 
to the White House china collection. Henry Francis Du Pont 
donated a dessert service purchased for the White House during the 
administration of Monroe. The china has an amaranthine border 
with vignettes representing military might, agriculture, commerce, 
art, and science, and was made in France by Dagoty. Outstanding 
accessions to the collection of American period costume were an early 
dress of homespun cotton, given by Mrs. Charles D. Collins; a dress 
and wedding petticoats of the early 19th century, a gift of the Misses 
Marion and Elinor Abbot; a collection of late 19th- and early 20th- 
century costumes, presented by Miss Eleanor P. Custis; and a wedding 
dress and other costumes of the 1890’s of historic importance because 
of their connection with famous South Carolina families, the gift of 
Mrs. Pinckney Alston Trapier. A flag which had been hung out in 
mourning at the time of Lincoln’s death was donated by John M. 
Harlan, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. 
The donation of Mrs. Catherine E. Bullowa, consisting of 21,531 
coins, medals, and paper currencies, is an important addition to the 
numismatic collection. Of special interest in this series is a group of 
504 early German and Italian silver and copper coins, dating from 
the 11th through the 16th centuries, and a collection of 62 German 
patterns engraved by C. Goetz at the Munich Mint after World War 
I. Another noteworthy accession is the President Dwight D. Hisen- 
hower collection of coins, medals, and memorabilia, including a group 
of 149 gold, silver, and copper mintings covering all periods of his- 
tory from Ancient Greece to modern times. Especially remarkable 
are the silver shekel from Judea struck during the first revolt against 
the Romans in A.D. 66-70 and a silver shekel from Tyre, Phoenicia, 
considered similar to the “thirty pieces of silver” of the Bible. 
A set of 14 gold medals issued by the Italo- Venezuelan Bank portray- 
ing World War II leaders and a 20-dollar gold piece engraved on 
the reverse “Reims, May 7, 1945, 0240” are part of a group of coins 
bearing special dedications to President Eisenhower. 
A collection of nine medals and plaques engraved by the American 
medalist Victor D. Brenner was received from the Eric P. Newman 
Numismatic Education Society of St. Louis. An important collection 
of 807 proclamation pieces, struck by different Mexican cities and or- 
ganizations in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in commemora- 
tion of the late Spanish kings, was presented by Joseph B. Stack. 
Former Postmaster General James A. Farley converted two addi- 
tional units from loan to gift in the division of philately and postal 
history, thus concluding the transaction begun in 1956. Two collec- 
tions of inestimable reference value were transferred from the Library 
of Congress—the Ackerman collection of U.S. die and plate proofs in 
