Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-02-17

begun IN 1919, Out
.TSl$CA1 previously a custom
go tA-M had been established
(0LANl- of preserving what
WV are termed master
coins"-that is to saG,
the first pieces Of new
issues. Such proof pieces are always
made with unusual care, and retain the
beauty which is so quickly marred in cir
culation. Thus the numismatic cabinet had
already nucleus, which exhibited the his
tory and development of American coinage
up TO that date. Since then the series or
proof pieces has been added to and kept
complete, while Congress has supplied mon
ey for purchasing foreign coins. In 1889
$1,000 was appropriated for that purpose,
and since then $500 a year has been given.
OF course such small sums would not go
very far, but other means have been adopted
for adding to and euriching the collection.
good many coins have been secured by
exchange while thousands of valuable ones
have been obtained for merely their bullion
value by keeping watch on the foreign
money of all sorts sent into the mint for
melting. In such money every now and then
a rare and interesting piece turns up and is
rescued from destruction. United States
consuls abroad, missionaries and other citi-
zenS have presented numerous coins to
Uncle Sam for this collection.
The Japanese Oban.
one OF the most interesting of the coins
is an oval plate of gold four inches long
1t is the ''oban" of Japan and is worth So
1t has u smooth and polished surface into
which an Inscription is burned with chem
lcals Formerly il was the law that any
pody VINO took gold oban out of Japan
Should be punished with death, supposing
crime N I. t.
the offender was to be imprisoned for life
This was one way of preventing gold from
going out of the country, and possibly Com
gress might be induced to regard with favor
proposition to adopt the same method
mere. Recently Japan has adopted the
American system of coinage
one trouble that embarrasses the finan-
cial problem in the land of the mikado is
onat inc ordinary working people in that
country nave no pockets. Without pockets
what Is one going to do with coins? To car
ry ones ready cash in ones mouth is not
always convenient, particularly at meal
times, though many persons are satisfied 10.
use that receptacle on ordinary occa sionS
as portemonnaie. In Japan the difficulty
was got over formerly by making the coins
with square holes in the center through
wnlch IL was easy TO pass a string Tins
rendering 1t practicable to carry them about
IN the shape of a necklace The absence OF
perforauons in the modern Japanese cur-
denes mas given rise to so much popular
oisc1ntent that new copper piece worth
nearly a cent is now being struck for tbs
beneht of the masses
In China.
Ihe Chinese claim that they have had
coined money for more than 100 wears
Many of their coins are supposed To have
magical properties and to operate as charms
for the protection Of the possessor against
FEVER and the devil. 1t is on this account
hat
of money is placed in his mouth The same
custom was followed in ancient Rome but
the coin was intended to pay the Passage
of the defunct across the waters of the
river StyN. Some of the Chinese coins used
as charms are covered with mystical char
acters and symbolic animals. The Chinese
have money OF porcelain also The coin of
least value in the world is Japanese 1910
being required TO make ST.
NOT less curious are the Sianese coins
Some OF them are known as bullet
money being merely Jumps of silver and
gold hammered into a rudely spherical
shape, with characters stamped on them
They bear as a device the sacred white ele-
phant. In Burmah the peacock is q sacred
animal, and for that reason il appears on
some of the coins from that COUNTRY A
very extraordinary Burmese piece of money
is an ordinary gravel stone inclosed in a
circlet of brass.
Two Thousand Years Old.
which contains only one solitary coin. An
inscription says that the piece was struck
in the Philadelphia mint at least 2,C0o
years ago" The mint in which it was
stamped however, was not in the Quaker
city. but in the city of Attalus PhiladeI-
plus, Asia Minor. from which William
Penn took the name for the town of
"brotherly love" There are also some
specimens of the gold shell lnoney-made
out of gold beaten into the shape of shells
by African natives, who supplied Portu-
guese slave traders with slaves. These
were worth about 81 apiece. and forty of
them would buy slave. They were called
''spondylus macutus," and il is alleged
that from this term came the word "sron-
dulles, meaning money.
There are also some of the coins half dol
lars and pistareens of Carolus and johanna of
Spain. which Gen. Meigs obtained at Cor
pus Christi Tex. in 1870. They we're
found on the beach of Padre Island. ard it
is supposed that they Were washed ND
from a sunken treasure ship. wrecked on
the coast while carrying funds to the army
of CorteZ, who entered the City of Mexico
in 1919 Other coins of the same lot are
now preserved at the National Museum
In the cabinet at the mint are also coins
from another wreck. In 1915 fleet was
fitted out in Spain by Ferdinand VII for
the purpose of reducing the reballious col
onieS in South America. The flag shin San
Pedro was freighted with great amount
OF specie. She caught fire off the coasS of
Venezuela and sank with 100 men, The
right of fishing for the money was granted
thirty years later to a Baltimore comnany
Divers found the wreck in sixty feet of
water, on hard bed of coral. over this
there was deposited mud, and again above
this a layer of coral, which had to he
pierced to arrive at the treasure. What
was secured of the latter was sent TO Phil
adelphia, amounting to $1,000. The pieces
We're much corroded, the loss on that ac-
count being considerable.
Among the most interesting objects pre-
served at the mint are three golden images
from graves on the island of Chiriqui Off
Central America. They We're dug up in 1853
and sent in bullion TO be melted. They
are OF pure gold, but the workmanship is
very crude. The images are in the forms of
a reptile d bird. and a man, with symbols
of power in his hands.
The American Eagle.
A more modern relic in the cabinet is a
superb American eagle stuffed and inclos-
ed in glass case. Its portrait has been
preserved on the silver dollars of 1896, 1885
and 1899, and on the nickel cents of 1856
The birds name was Peter. and he lived at
the mint six years. He was known as the
mint bird" and flew about the city as he
chose, nobody interfering with him. He al
ways returned before the building was
closed. one day he perched on "A fly-wheel
and, getting caught in the machinery was
killed.
The first coins issued by the United States