Would CoinFacts, the Red Book and other references have been illegal 150 years ago?

Zoins

I just read the following New York Times article for December 12, 1894 in detail and found it was interesting that sales of a book on the Philadelphia Mint was stopped because it had facsimiles of US coins. See last paragraph in article. Do we know what decision was made in Washington for this book?

William J. McManus, secret-service officer in charge in this city for the National Government [...] has also stopped the sale in the mint of the "History of the Philadelphia Mint," a publication issued and also sold as a souvenir to visitors. This step was taken because the printing in the book of facsimiles of all the coins of the United States. No seizure of the books has, however, been made, pending a decision from Washington.

• https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/periodical/9944

ricko

That was before the First Amendment was understood.... The thought behind the action was that the pictures could be used as a tool for counterfeiting coins....Rather illogical since the coins were readily available To answer the OP question... In the mind of Mr. McManus - yes, they would have been illegal.... Cheers, RickO

RogerB

No. The law restricted images of coins to numismatic publications - which included coin collecting columns in newspapers, but not the rest of the paper. It created problems for commemorative coin promoters, also.

Zoins

@ricko said:
That was before the First Amendment was understood.... The thought behind the action was that the pictures could be used as a tool for counterfeiting coins....Rather illogical since the coins were readily available To answer the OP question... In the mind of Mr. McManus - yes, they would have been illegal.... Cheers, RickO

I just read that he worked for the Secret Service for 16 years, working on a number of celebrated counterfeiting cases. He was bribed but turns the tables on the bribers. One of the bribers was a former US District Attorney.

WILLIAM J. McMANUS DEAD.; Was a 'Secret Service Agent and Figured in Many Big Cases.

• https://www.nytimes.com/1901/02/27/archives/william-j-mcmanus-dead-was-a-secret-service-agent-and-figured-in.html

Zoins

@RogerB said:
No. The law restricted images of coins to numismatic publications - which included coin collecting columns in newspapers, but not the rest of the paper. It created problems for commemorative coin promoters, also.

Who were some promoters than ran into this issue?

I find it fascinating to read about how commemorative coins were distributed and who made money on them.

I wonder if we'll have books cover modern commemorative distribution in the future? Certainly the Lipton 2014 gold Kennedy half story is as enticing as some of the Max Mehl stories.

RogerB

Everyone in the 1920s starting with Maine. Some used an image of a similar medal. others removed wording, and others ignored Treasury's complains and issued illustrated cases and materials anyway. There was little penalty, and few could understand why it was ok to show a coin in a newspaper's coin column, but not elsewhere in the same publication.

Also, this subject came up with Eames MacVeagh, son of Treasury Sec,, and some lantern slides of currency he had made for a public presentation. He got the OK from Asst Sec Andrew. (The incident is described in Renaissance of American Coinage 1909-1915.)

CaptHenway

I asked Ken Bressett if there were any restrictions on using coin illustrations in the Redbook when he started there (late 1950's?) and he said no.