A Scotsman’s Tale of Circulating Gold Coinage- 1853
JCH22
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In 1853, Scottish publisher William Chambers toured Canada and the United States. He wrote a detailed, and insightful account of his varied travels.
Of interest here is his observations on then circulating coinage:
Since the discovery of gold in California, the coinage has been immense. Travelers, a few years ago, spoke of the abundance and wretchedness of the paper-money circulating everywhere through the States. You still see dollar-notes, purporting to be issued by state and city banks; but, to all appearance, the circulating medium is to a very large extent, if not chiefly, in gold coins. At the time of my visit, the principal deficiency was in silver, for small-change; though new quarter dollars of that metal, resembling an English shilling, were coming into use, and are now perhaps plentiful. The most common coins were the gold dollar—a most beautiful small piece—the two-and-a-half dollar, and the five-dollar piece. The eagle—a ten-dollar gold coin—was seldom visible, and more seldom still, the double eagle. Latterly, it has been proposed to coin fifty-dollar gold pieces; and some of an octagonal form of that amount have been actually executed at California, and are seen in the windows of the money-changers in New York. On looking over the collection of native and foreign coins in the Mint at Philadelphia, it is observable that the Americans come quite up to the English in some details of mechanical execution, but are still distanced in artistic design. The devices on the various American pieces, gold and silver, are not elegant, neither is the die-sinking so perfect as it might be; and to an improvement in both these points, the United States' government, for the sake of its own credit, could not do better than direct attention. It appears that for several years the coinage in the Mint at Philadelphia has been upwards of 50,000,000 of dollars per annum. Taken in connection with the product of the English and French Mints, it is stated on authority, that the coined money ushered into existence in the year 1853, attained the value of £38,725,831—a quantity of hard cash added to the ordinary currency which gives an impressive idea of the industrial transactions of modern times.
Chambers, William. Things as they are in America. London, William and Robert Chambers, 1854, .p.342-343
He also seemed to enjoy his visit to the Mint (but coinage design,... not so much) :
The Mint in Philadelphia is the head establishment for coining specie for the United States. “It is lawful for any person to bring to the Mint gold or silver bullion to be coined; and the bullion so brought is there assayed and coined, as speedily as may be; and, if of the standard of the United States, free of expense to the person by whom it has been brought.” The machinery in this establishment is extremely beautiful, but the artistic execution of the dies is poor. A great portion of the light work, such as charging the presses with blanks, &c., is performed by girls. The coinage during 1853 was very large, amounting to 7,842,169 gold, 61,871,068 silver, and 6,770,825 copper pieces, representing a total value of 64,358,537 dollars. It is well known that the salaries of civil officers in the States holding situations of great labour and trust are very small. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the chief United States Mint, the director of which receives only 700 /. a-year.
Id.
Comments
That was interesting to read.
Regarding the design work, I think the author is severely biased due to the fact that American coins did not have the King or Queen of England on them
He evidently does not like the concept of "Liberty" ?
Europeans were still reluctant to give up their leadership in the Arts by the 1850s but the reality is that we certainly had more talent in the United States in bank note engravers. Great Britain, France, and Germany were at the forefront of numismatic technology and art but we had some talented diesinkers here, too (mostly from Europe) and the designs are a matter of taste. And the diversity and artistic skill on our currency exceeded that of any European nation in 1853.
And our seated liberty designs, so prevalent in 1853, are an American version of Britannia, which, in turn, comes from classic Roman art, aren't they?
You still see dollar-notes, purporting to be issued by state and city banks; but, to all appearance, the circulating medium is to a very large extent, if not chiefly, in gold coins.
Not true, Mr. Chambers. Banks always had far more in paper currency on their balance sheets than gold, even in 1853. Gold was always scarce compared to paper. Below is a link to the conditions of US banks in 1853 which includes balance sheet information on just how much specie specific banks had on hand compared to paper currency. The first few pages (4-5) show six Maine banks. The healthier but small banks typically had a few thousand to the low 10,000s in specie on hand with amounts like $50,000-$100,000 in paper on hand. This was quite typical for banks during the obsolete note period. link
Then again there was a reason why Teddy Roosevelt pushed for a complete redesign of US coinage.
Very interesting read.
An interesting read, but it must be read in the context that almost all silver coinage disappeared in early 1853, and slowly reemerged in the new lighter form over the rest of the year. When did he visit?
For general context, should have included in initial post that Chambers was a significant figure in Scotland in the mid 1800's, and meet with President Pierce during his visit. A short biography can be found at https://trulyedinburgh.com/famous-scots/william-chambers/
Dates of his itinerary are not specifically noted. He arrived in Boston in the “autumn of 1853,” went directly on to Canada. Arrived back in the U.S. via Detroit. His U.S. travels are detailed in the below Table of Contents (to provide his frame of reference). He does note he departed New York for Liverpool onboard the steamer Europa on December 14. 1853.
His itinerary and observations of gold in circulation makes some sense. The gold that DID circulate, did so in cities like New York and Boston while gold was very scarce in rural areas.
Then again there was a reason why Teddy Roosevelt pushed for a complete redesign of US coinage.
Taste changes. We liked the seated liberty (silver) and liberty head designs (gold) in the 1830s and continued to keep them for decades. The switch in 1892 to the Barber designs represented a simpler and cleaner design, more consistent with the Liberty gold coinage designs. Roosevelt didn't like them. Art nouveau followed by art deco were powerful new influences seen everywhere. Teddy was keeping up with the times. And numismatists generally are very positive about the new designs. They are among the favorites of collectors today-the Lincoln Cent, Buffalo Nickel, Mercury Dime. Standing Liberty Quarter, Walking Liberty Half, Peace Dollar, Indian Head gold $2.5, $5 and $10 and St Gaudens $20.
Thank you.
we need some pics of the girls doing the coining please.
1903 photo but the mint hired it's first woman in 1795.
