The New York herald., 1921-08-28


Virginia, Governor. Council and Bur-
gesses. having maturely weighed and
considered how advantageous a quoine
current would be to this colony, and
the great wants and miseries which do
daily happen unto 1t by the sole de-
tendency upon tobacco, have at length
resolved and enacted" that a mint be
established. The resolve never was
acted upon, however. and the honor of
setting up the frst mint fell to Massa-
chusetts Bay.
In 1852 the General Court at Boston
decided to establish mint Ten years
before an attempt had been made to fix
the value OF all coins in circulation. an
attempt that did not succeed because of
the general practice of cutting and clip
ping coins. In the act of establishment
the coins to be made at the new mint
were to be "hatt and square" and the
denominations were hxed at twelve
pence, sixpence and threepence. Depos-
itors of bullion were permitted ito see
the same melted, refined and assayed."
John Hull was named mint master
and under the original law was allowed
one shilling and sixpence for every
twenty shillings stamped.
In 1860 Lord Baltimore introduced
shillings. sixpence and groats of Eng
lish manufacture into his colony. They
proved serviceable and the minting of
them in the colony began. Carolina,
Virginia and New Hampshire followed
Maryland in issuing their own coins and
this practice became general Under the
Confederation manytokens and individual
coins were minted and these continued to
circulate irregularly down to the time the
United States Mint was established.
Among these were the so-called
Franklin copper cents Of 1887. They
bore on one side and near the outer
edge OF the coin thirteen circles linked.
indicating the binding together of the
thirteen colonies. In the middle of this
face of the coin was small circle with
the words United States around It and
then. in the centre Of the circle, the
words I'VE Are One" On the other side
of the coin was dial with hours
marked on It's face and a meridian sun
above. On one side of the sun was the
word "Fugio" and on the other the date
1887. Below the dial was the blunt ad-
monition Mind Your Business"
In that same year New York put forth
a coin called a doubloon, which was
worth SIS. A hundred years later
specimen was worth $500. The famous
Washington cent of 1871. the coin upon
which Washington declined to permit
the representation of his head, was made
at a private mint in London. Private
coinage did not pass out with the es-
tablishment of the United States Gov
ernment. In 1851 the United States
Mint reported that twenty-seven differ
ent kinds of gold coins. issued from If
teen private mints. had been received
and assayed at Philadelphia
Token money, issued privately. was In
greater quantity and variety. During
the panic Of 1897 about 164 varieties of
copper cents were issued. many of them
carrying on their face the opinions Of
the private producers regarding President
Andrew Jackson and his Democratic
party. Merchants issuing their private
coins frequently used one side of them
for advertising purposes.
With the adoption of the Constitution
and the establishment of our present
form OF Government a new era in the
history of American coinage began. On
January s, 1891. Alexander Hamilton
submitted to the House OF Representa-
tives his report on the condition OF the
currency and his recommendations for
a new system of coinage.
AS a result of his representations and
suggestions. seconded by those OF JEFF
ferson and Morris, Congress passed the
act OF April Q, 1892, establishing the
monetary system of the United States
and providing for the free coinage of
gold. silver and copper coins. Under
this law the ninting of gold eagles, gold
half eagles and gold quarter eagles was
authorized. The silver coins authorized
were the dollar. half dollar. quarter
dollar. dime and half dime. The minor
coins which were expected to serve the
uses of trade at that time were the
copper cent and half cent. The gold
coins were to contain 24.75 grains of
pure gold to the dollar and the oliver
dollars were to contain 371.25 grains
of pure silver.
Provision was also made for the erec-
ton of a mint In Philadelphia. the first
building erected in this country for
public use under the authority OF the
Federal Government. The building was
completed in July. 1892, and operations
began in the following October with the
minting of silver half dimes. In 1894
the production OF silver dollars begap,
and in the following year half eagles
and eagles We're produced.
Hamilton had argued in his report Of
January, 1871. for the coinage of gold
dollar. declaring that the chief induce
ment to the establishment of the small
gold piece is to have a sensible object
in that metal. as we'll as In silver, to
express the unit" Provision for the
coinage OF gold dollars was not made.
however, until 1s49. The coinage of
actual gold dollars was discontinued
in September. 1890. and although 49,
4ss.237 of them were ninted not many
persons Of the present generation have
even seen them. Gold dollars have
haeu n1iuted iinon snacfaf oooa aiora stcy,