Photographing a Painting of Ye Olde Mint in 1969 and 2009... as well as the deed to the First Mint a
airplanenut
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Last January I had the opportunity to spend a day at the Independence Hall museum, photographing numerous coins and other items from the era of the first incarnation of the US Mint for an upcoming book by Len Augsburger (our very coin coinosaurus). Philadelphia collector Frank Stewart, who collected only items from the era of the First Mint, willed his collection to the city, and it is stored at the museum. Amidst the beautiful coinage (no major "high-end" coins, but lots of very historical collector coins in various states of preservation), there were a few other odd-ball items to photograph.
The three most difficult photographs were of framed items. If you thought slabs were hard, try shooting through glass from across the room. Two paintings (one not shown in this post) hadn't been photographed in years, along with a copy of the deed to the Mint, signed by Andrew Jackson (which was in creased plastic wrap in the frame... gah!) were included. In addition, the original boot scraper was present. To think that George Washington likely used it to clean up his muddy shoes after a stroll to the Mint was exciting indeed.
Anyhoo, Len took a candid shot of my photographing one of the paintings (to see the final photo you'll have to wait for the book
), and just sent it to me, along with a shot of the last time the painting was photographed, back in 1969. Len had this to say:
"The first is Charles Hoskins photographing Thomas Becker photographing Ye Olde Mint in 1969.
"Hoskins was the curator of the money museum at the First National Bank in Detroit - from about the 1930s to the 1960s several large US banks kept such institutional collections, most of which have all been broken up now. Hoskins later worked for the US Mint. Becker was an aspiring numismatic author and published his photo of Ye Olde Mint c. 1970."
It's amazing how relatively little changed in 40 years, other than the equipment, the fact that the picture was framed, and the photographer going from a dignified adult to a young punk
The Deed... full size
...and a small sampling of coins...
Enjoy!
Jeremy
The three most difficult photographs were of framed items. If you thought slabs were hard, try shooting through glass from across the room. Two paintings (one not shown in this post) hadn't been photographed in years, along with a copy of the deed to the Mint, signed by Andrew Jackson (which was in creased plastic wrap in the frame... gah!) were included. In addition, the original boot scraper was present. To think that George Washington likely used it to clean up his muddy shoes after a stroll to the Mint was exciting indeed.
Anyhoo, Len took a candid shot of my photographing one of the paintings (to see the final photo you'll have to wait for the book
), and just sent it to me, along with a shot of the last time the painting was photographed, back in 1969. Len had this to say:"The first is Charles Hoskins photographing Thomas Becker photographing Ye Olde Mint in 1969.
"Hoskins was the curator of the money museum at the First National Bank in Detroit - from about the 1930s to the 1960s several large US banks kept such institutional collections, most of which have all been broken up now. Hoskins later worked for the US Mint. Becker was an aspiring numismatic author and published his photo of Ye Olde Mint c. 1970."
It's amazing how relatively little changed in 40 years, other than the equipment, the fact that the picture was framed, and the photographer going from a dignified adult to a young punk
The Deed... full size
...and a small sampling of coins...
Enjoy!
Jeremy
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thanks for posting! I love that kind of stuff.
Boy would I like to have that boot scraper!!!!
Oh yeah, and the coins too.
R.I.P. Bear
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
Use of polarized light would have removed the distracting reflection from the document.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
BTW, where's the picture of Andrew Jackson encased in plastic wrap?
<< <i>It looks like the photo from 1969 is of a painting and the photo you took in 2009 is of a print? >>
Nope... exact same piece. The difference is I was shooting through the frame, and of course keep in mind that the picture of me was taken some 5-10 feet away from the painting, making the light chips and texture inherent in a painting appear to be missing.
Also, the picture of Jeremy taking a picture of the watercolor was taken by a much less adept photographer
Now how many 100+ year old mud scrapers are still around?
Thanks for the post.
<< <i>The "painting" is actually a watercolor.
Also, the picture of Jeremy taking a picture of the watercolor was taken by a much less adept photographer
From my memories of childhood, watercolor can indeed still chip and have texture
Becker was an aspiring numismatic author and published his photo of Ye Olde Mint c. 1970."
The photograph was published in Becker’s 1970 book The Heritage of Coins, the first volume
in the ill-fated International Numismatic Collectors Society series. Oddly enough, however, it was
printed in black & white, not color. Tom gave me copies of the color prints in June 1970, when I
visited him at his home in Philadelphia.
Denga
<< <i>Tom wrote another book, The Coin Makers, and in that one the color print appeared. >>
Well .... now I remember it. In fact I have a signed copy but just spent the last 10 minutes
looking for it without any luck. Not being able to find it on a moment’s notice I cannot
state a publication date but, if memory serves correctly, it came out before the Heritage of
Coins book mentioned above.
Denga
It isn't signed, so I assume it is not your copy
I was slightly dissapointed in the Bust Quarters in the Stewart collecion when I saw them in 2008. There were only 4 coins and they all had multiple problems...nothing rarer than R-3 other than one was an 1796 B-2.
QN
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<< <i>I was slightly dissapointed in the Bust Quarters in the Stewart collecion when I saw them in 2008. There were only 4 coins and they all had multiple problems... >>
In one sense, I really liked that fact (no comment/knowledge of the rarities. Stewart had a goal to collect coins from the First US Mint, and he simply had a nice collection of "collector material." It's a rare collection that wasn't filled with exceptional, high-grade rarities by someone who was as rich as could be. Rather, he just acquired nice coins. A hit here, a rim ding there, that didn't seem to phase him. Just a nice group of coins that fought their battles serving the economy, and retiring to the collection of someone who could really appreciate them.