The Mint Cabinet of 1838

Coxe

Does anyone know the current disposition of the Cabinet (actually a 54' x 16' room on the 2nd floor of the Mint) and its holdings? It was set up by R.M. Patterson in 1838 when he was the director. I was reading in Evans' History of the United States Mint about it and its incredible museum holdings. It is a great read and a wonderful collection to see.

I visited the MInt several times as a schoolboy back in the area but don't recall much and certainly not such display. Do they continue to retain this and its additions? Is most/all of it at the Smithsonian?

DeepCoin

I think you need to check on the updated location of the Mint cabinet. There is no such room on the second floor of the United States Mint today. The Smithsonian holds all of the numismatic treasures, i.e. two 1933 Saints, not the Mint. They were transferred quite a number of years ago.

Coxe

Yes, I know that, but did all of the stuff go to the Smithsonian and stay there?

DeepCoin

Yes, they have it all in the NNC, National Numismatic Collection. Virtually all of it is NOT on display, they have a lot of material. I believe the permanent display was taken down in the not too distant past.

RWB

All of the Philadelphia Mint collection was transferred to the Smithsonian in 1923, except models, galvanos, old hubs, etc. This was combined with the Smithsonian's existing collection. Other donations have been made since then. The National Numismatic Collection is the third largest in the world (behind the British Museum and the Hermitage). It also holds distinction as being one of the poorest funded, understaffed collections.

Although huge quantities of paper money are included in the NNC, the mother lode of paper currency is the Bureau of Engraving and Printing collection. This is housed in seven large vaults in the BEP building in Washington. This collection is not open to the public.

denga

Coxe October 16, 2007

Does anyone know the current disposition of the Cabinet (actually a 54' x 16' room on the 2nd floor of the Mint) and its holdings? It was set up by R.M. Patterson in 1838 when he was the director. I was reading in Evans' History of the United States Mint about it and its incredible museum holdings. It is a great read and a wonderful collection to see.

I visited the MInt several times as a schoolboy back in the area but don't recall much and certainly not such display. Do they continue to retain this and its additions? Is most/all of it at the Smithsonian?

I do not know the status of the ‘cabinet’ room at the current Philadelphia Mint but in the mid 1970s I did research
at the Mint and there were several display cases filled with old documents, photographs, and the like. At that time,
if memory serves correctly, it was not open to the public but could be visited with prior approval. It was, I think, on
the second floor.

Denga

RWB

Some of the NARA finding aids specify certain documents and photos being at the Philadelphia Mint, as Denga noted. Most of the material that was on display during the 1970-80s is probably still there - just in storage. (The Philadelphia Mint folks located some of it in 2001 when I was researching my 1916-1921 book and provided photos.)

firstmint

The cabinets of the U S Mint collection that was begun in 1838, no longer exist. They were destroyed in 1901 when the second U S Mint building was razed.

The reference that was made in both A M Smith and George Evans books about the U S Mint in the 1880s, was regarding the display cabinets found on the second floor of the second U S Mint.

There is a woefully out-of- scale pencil drawing in Evans. However, the only actual photograph currently known that shows this exhibit area can be found in my Henry Voigt and Others book, which just came out several months ago.

The 1838 congressional funding for this important undertaking was originally set at $1,000 per year. However, that's when Adam Eckfeldt was still at the Mint. The next near, he retired and his son-in-law, William E DuBois, who was the assistant assayer, took over the position as curator of the Mint collection. The year of 1839 saw the funding cut to $300 for purchases and maintence.

The returned 1804 dollars created much interest when they were first described and pictured in 1842; and the "extra one" (from the undelivered diplomatic sets of 1834/5) made for terrific trading stock to add pieces to the Mint collection.