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New Orleans Mint die. Interesting letter.
RWB
Posts: 8,082 ✭
This might be of interest to Morgan dollar collectors
To: A.W. Downing [Machinist from the Philadelphia Mint]
From: George Roberts [Director]
Jan 19, 1900
“Your are hereby authorized and instructed to proceed to New Orleans, as early as practicable, for temporary duty in the coiner’s department of the U.S. Mint.
“You will endeavor to ascertain the cause or causes why the coinage dies furnished that institution by the Mint at Philadelphia become fractured and imperfect in so short a time, and advise with the Superintendent and coiner as to the best means to be employed to correct the imperfect execution of the coins manufactured by that Mint. On your way to New Orleans I have to request that you stop one day in Washington for conference….”
[RG 104 entry 235, vol. 316]
To: A.W. Downing [Machinist from the Philadelphia Mint]
From: George Roberts [Director]
Jan 19, 1900
“Your are hereby authorized and instructed to proceed to New Orleans, as early as practicable, for temporary duty in the coiner’s department of the U.S. Mint.
“You will endeavor to ascertain the cause or causes why the coinage dies furnished that institution by the Mint at Philadelphia become fractured and imperfect in so short a time, and advise with the Superintendent and coiner as to the best means to be employed to correct the imperfect execution of the coins manufactured by that Mint. On your way to New Orleans I have to request that you stop one day in Washington for conference….”
[RG 104 entry 235, vol. 316]
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Comments
merse
Maybe in that year its because Philadelphia sent some old CC reverse dies that had been laying around and shipped back and forth across the country from 7 years prior!
Maybe it wasn't the New Orleans mint's fault!
Glenn
Website-Americana Rare Coin Inc
K
Downing spent about 5 weeks at the New Orleans Mint. He discovered the problem was improper softening of planchets, and that, in turn, was caused by trying to put too many planchets through the annealing furnace during a day’s work.
As an aside. I suspect this is all related to the 1900-O/CC dollars and the general problem of poorly struck N. O. dollars.
Out of curiosity, can you describe the process of wading through the archives a bit? I am really curious.
Is the process convenient, or convoluted? Is a lot of the material interesting? Or do you need to wade through a ton of routine paperwork to find something intriguing? I bet it is a lot of fun, in a coin geeky kind of way.
See new post. (above)
<< <i> Very interesting! Did machinist Downing send a reply after his inspection?
Downing spent about 5 weeks at the New Orleans Mint. He discovered the problem was improper softening of planchets, and that, in turn, was caused by trying to put too many planchets through the annealing furnace during a day’s work.
As an aside. I suspect this is all related to the 1900-O/CC dollars and the general problem of poorly struck N. O. dollars.
>>
I have long been of the opinion that the tendency towards weak strikes in the centers of New Orleans Morgan dollars was the result of the dies being basined too flat, so that they weren't coming closer together in the centers during the strike, so that there was insufficient metal movement to fill up the ear and the eagle's breast.
Many people can tell the mint mark of a Morgan just by looking at the obverse. That lack of curvature in the field is one of the clues.
TD
As to basining – that was done at Philadelphia. Then the branch mints could make minor changes if necessary and with approval from the engraver in Philadelphia. It is possible the New Orleans people were doing something unauthorized; however, the special assay coins were examined and in most cases approved. Downing’s reports do not attribute the problem to die radius. There is likely more information in the archives, and I could easily have missed something in the parts I have searched.