What happened at the mint in 1922?
Nap
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Cents were only produced in Denver. No quarters, dimes, nickel, halves, or gold other than the double eagle. A huge amount of dollars from all 3 mints.
Why the odd distribution of mint resources? Surely after enormous 1921 production the government must have had enough silver dollars. Why the absence of other denominations?
Why the odd distribution of mint resources? Surely after enormous 1921 production the government must have had enough silver dollars. Why the absence of other denominations?
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The 1922 Silver dollars were part of the coinage authorized by the Pittman Act of 1918. The treasury was anxious to replace them as quickly as possible to restore the backing for silver certiuficates thus avoiding interest charges on the uncoined silver and the Pittman bonds backing the low denomination Federal Reserve Bank Notes that temporarily replaced some of the silver certificates.
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He and I have had a friendly argument and disagreement about exactly the causes of the US Mint failure to mint so many issues of coins yet so many 1922 silver dollars.
If I recall correctly from his book and his arguments in summary here was the US Mint had a huge surplus of other denominations and did not need to strike many of the other denominations but more importantly, the US Mint was so preoccupied with making so many of the difficult to strike 1922 silver dollars.
If I recall correctly, I disagreed stating in summary that it was caused by events nearly four years earlier, namely the huge influenza epidemic of 1918 which then played a huge role in causing the huge economic downturn of 1921 which caused the US Mint to nearly shut down in 1921 and 1922.
We had pages and pages of arguments for and against our positions. the arguments became so venomous that we became good friends in enjoying our arguments AGAINST each other. It was all so much FUN!
Perhaps I will pull up the old archives on this exact discussion right here unless someone beats me to it.
roadrunner
<< <i>RWB wrote a wonderful book about what happened at the US Mint in 1922.
He and I have had a friendly argument and disagreement about exactly the causes of the US Mint failure to mint so many issues of coins yet so many 1922 silver dollars.
If I recall correctly from his book and his arguments in summary here was the US Mint had a huge surplus of other denominations and did not need to strike many of the other denominations but more importantly, the US Mint was so preoccupied with making so many of the difficult to strike 1922 silver dollars.
If I recall correctly, I disagreed stating in summary that it was caused by events nearly four years earlier, namely the huge influenza epidemic of 1918 which then played a huge role in causing the huge economic downturn of 1921 which caused the US Mint to nearly shut down in 1921 and 1922.
We had pages and pages of arguments for and against our positions. the arguments became so venomous that we became good friends in enjoying our arguments AGAINST each other. It was all so much FUN!
Perhaps I will pull up the old archives on this exact discussion right here unless someone beats me to it.
...looking forward to it.
Mary Wells, secretary to Frank E. Scoby, who was appointed 26th Director of the Mint by President Warren
G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, is buried under a pile of letters from coin collectors from
across the nation. They are responding to there being no 1922 minted Buffalo nickels, no Mercury Head dimes,
no Standing Liberty quarters and finally, no 1922 Walking Liberty half dollars.
They want to know, "What Gives Mr. Scoby?"
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
That's basically it, in a nutshell. The Pittman bonds paid 4% and Treasury Sec. Mellon wanted them redeemed as soon as possible. Mellon was trying to have a balanced budget and there were cuts in many parts of the government. (Pittman was mostly a subsidy for domestic producers and Mellon wanted the spending cut quickly, before Congress could pass an extension. The battle over silver purchases raged until 1942 – in part because after the Pittman act was satisfied, most purchases were from China and India.) The large wartime production of other denominations took care of commercial needs.
There have been some interesting discussions about this, but so far I haven’t seen anything to change the above perception.
<< <i>
Mary Wells, secretary to Frank E. Scoby, who was appointed 26th Director of the Mint by President Warren
G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, is buried under a pile of letters from coin collectors from
across the nation. They are responding to there being no 1922 minted Buffalo nickels, no Mercury Head dimes,
no Standing Liberty quarters and finally, no 1922 Walking Liberty half dollars.
They want to know, "What Gives Mr. Scoby?" >>
I like that. Instead of answering the letters, they buried their secretary in a pile of them and took a photo.
Wish today's mint was as clever as this. I'm sure they have the letters.
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
<< <i>
Mary Wells, secretary to Frank E. Scoby, who was appointed 26th Director of the Mint by President Warren
G. Harding, the 29th President of the United States, is buried under a pile of letters from coin collectors from
across the nation. They are responding to there being no 1922 minted Buffalo nickels, no Mercury Head dimes,
no Standing Liberty quarters and finally, no 1922 Walking Liberty half dollars.
They want to know, "What Gives Mr. Scoby?" >>
And thus was born the first "Advice to the Lovelorn" column; all these people complaining that they cannot get a "date."
For Canadian coins:
Only a handful (very rare dates) of 1921 silver dimes, quarters and halves.
No dimes issued from 1922 to 1927.
No quarters issued from 1922 to 1926.
And no halves issued from 1922 to 1928.
"“Those who sacrifice liberty for security/safety deserve neither.“(Benjamin Franklin)
"I only golf on days that end in 'Y'" (DE59)
<< <i>Same thing north of your border.
For Canadian coins:
Only a handful (very rare dates) of 1921 silver dimes, quarters and halves.
No dimes issued from 1922 to 1927.
No quarters issued from 1922 to 1926.
And no halves issued from 1922 to 1928. >>
A most excellent point!
The U.S. and Canadian economies seem to have been fairly closely linked, and this parallel would seem to indicate that the wartime surplus of small change was a greater factor than the replacement of the Pittman dollars, which helped offset the dimished minor coin production without causing it.
TD
<< <i><< Same thing north of your border.
For Canadian coins: Only a handful (very rare dates) of 1921 silver dimes, quarters and halves. No dimes issued from 1922 to 1927. No quarters issued from 1922 to 1926. And no halves issued from 1922 to 1928. >>
A most excellent point!
The U.S. and Canadian economies seem to have been fairly closely linked, and this parallel would seem to indicate that the wartime surplus of small change was a greater factor than the replacement of the Pittman dollars, which helped offset the dimished minor coin production without causing it.
TD >>
This would support my viewpoint.
The Canadians were not any orders to support the USA Pittman Act as we did not give them their marching orders.
In 1922 the Director’s secretary was Mary O’Reilly, although O’Reilly actually ran the operations and Styer just signed paper between poker games with Harding and his buddies.
Still – it’s a fun photo!