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The unpublished Mint Reports for 1817–1818
denga
Posts: 922 ✭✭✭
The missing reports for 1817–1818 and 1822–1823 have now been published.
The remaining year, 1797, will follow in a day or so.
..........................................1817 Mint Report
..................................Mint of the United States
..................................January 1st, 1818
James Monroe
President of the United States
Washington City
Sir:
I have the honor of laying before you a report on the operations of the Mint during
the last year.
About the beginning of May, the repairs of the Mint having been nearly completed,
and a considerable quantity of Silver Bullion then in our vaults, the coinage was
recommenced; and since that time, as will appear from the statement of the Treasurer,
herewith transmitted, there have been struck
....................In Silver Coins 1,215,567 pieces amounting to Dollars 607,783.50 and
..............................In Copper Coins 3,948.400 amounting to Dollars 39,484.00 making
........................In the whole 5,163,967 pieces, amounting to Dollars 647,267.50.
The coinage of the Gold Bullion at present in our vaults, amounting to Dollars 57,540,
will be immediately commenced.
The large deposits of Silver imported from South America, the West Indies and Europe,
and chiefly made by the Bank of the United States, with the pressing solicitation of an
early return in coins, will, it is presumed, justify an extension of the operations of the Mint.
For this purpose, however, there will be required a small addition (say about Six Thousand
Dollars), to the estimates for contingent expenses, furnished to the Treasury Department,
prior to the meeting of Congress; and much more than this sum might be spared from the
fund appropriated for the purchase of Copper, which, from the profits of coinage, has now
accumulated to upwards of Dollars 58,000, fully twice as much as it would be necessary
to reserve for that object.
...........I have the honor to be, Sir
...........Your most obt. Servt
...........Rt Patterson
...............................................................[Tables]
The tables are omitted here but they show that the silver coins were half dollars and the
copper coinage was composed of cents. They also show that in 1817 the Mint paid out
in salaries $9,600.00, in wages $7,126.16, and incidental & contingent expenses
$15,290.55.
........................................................1818 Mint Report
...............................Mint of the United States
...............................January 1st, 1819
James Monroe
President of the United States
Washington City
Sir:
I have now the honor of laying before you a report of the operations of the Mint,
during the last twelve months.
From the statement of the Treasurer, accompanying this report, it will appear,
that during the aforesaid period, the Coinage at the Mint has been
......................In Gold, 48,588 pieces, amounting to …..$242,940
...............In Silver, 2,321,496 pieces, amounting to …..1,070,454.50
.................In Copper, 3,167,000 pieces, amounting to …..31,670
Making, in the whole, 5,537,084 pieces, amounting to …. $1,345,064.50
From such additions to the present buildings & apparatus as our limited site would
admit, and which are now nearly complete, it is believed that our future coinage will
be very considerably increased anticipating, what is not doubted, the continuance
of a plentiful supply of Silver bullion especially.
...................I am, Sir &&
...................R. Patterson
...............................................................[Tables]
The tables are not printed here but indicate the following coinage: 48,588 half eagles,
1,960,322 half dollars, 361,174 quarter dollars, and 3,167,000 cents. The expenses
of 1818 were $9,600 for salaries, $9,006.64 for wages, and $5,096.91 for incidental
& contingent expenses.
The remaining year, 1797, will follow in a day or so.
..........................................1817 Mint Report
..................................Mint of the United States
..................................January 1st, 1818
James Monroe
President of the United States
Washington City
Sir:
I have the honor of laying before you a report on the operations of the Mint during
the last year.
About the beginning of May, the repairs of the Mint having been nearly completed,
and a considerable quantity of Silver Bullion then in our vaults, the coinage was
recommenced; and since that time, as will appear from the statement of the Treasurer,
herewith transmitted, there have been struck
....................In Silver Coins 1,215,567 pieces amounting to Dollars 607,783.50 and
..............................In Copper Coins 3,948.400 amounting to Dollars 39,484.00 making
........................In the whole 5,163,967 pieces, amounting to Dollars 647,267.50.
The coinage of the Gold Bullion at present in our vaults, amounting to Dollars 57,540,
will be immediately commenced.
The large deposits of Silver imported from South America, the West Indies and Europe,
and chiefly made by the Bank of the United States, with the pressing solicitation of an
early return in coins, will, it is presumed, justify an extension of the operations of the Mint.
For this purpose, however, there will be required a small addition (say about Six Thousand
Dollars), to the estimates for contingent expenses, furnished to the Treasury Department,
prior to the meeting of Congress; and much more than this sum might be spared from the
fund appropriated for the purchase of Copper, which, from the profits of coinage, has now
accumulated to upwards of Dollars 58,000, fully twice as much as it would be necessary
to reserve for that object.
...........I have the honor to be, Sir
...........Your most obt. Servt
...........Rt Patterson
...............................................................[Tables]
The tables are omitted here but they show that the silver coins were half dollars and the
copper coinage was composed of cents. They also show that in 1817 the Mint paid out
in salaries $9,600.00, in wages $7,126.16, and incidental & contingent expenses
$15,290.55.
........................................................1818 Mint Report
...............................Mint of the United States
...............................January 1st, 1819
James Monroe
President of the United States
Washington City
Sir:
I have now the honor of laying before you a report of the operations of the Mint,
during the last twelve months.
From the statement of the Treasurer, accompanying this report, it will appear,
that during the aforesaid period, the Coinage at the Mint has been
......................In Gold, 48,588 pieces, amounting to …..$242,940
...............In Silver, 2,321,496 pieces, amounting to …..1,070,454.50
.................In Copper, 3,167,000 pieces, amounting to …..31,670
Making, in the whole, 5,537,084 pieces, amounting to …. $1,345,064.50
From such additions to the present buildings & apparatus as our limited site would
admit, and which are now nearly complete, it is believed that our future coinage will
be very considerably increased anticipating, what is not doubted, the continuance
of a plentiful supply of Silver bullion especially.
...................I am, Sir &&
...................R. Patterson
...............................................................[Tables]
The tables are not printed here but indicate the following coinage: 48,588 half eagles,
1,960,322 half dollars, 361,174 quarter dollars, and 3,167,000 cents. The expenses
of 1818 were $9,600 for salaries, $9,006.64 for wages, and $5,096.91 for incidental
& contingent expenses.
0
Comments
Thank you for posting these reports. Since you have had an opportunity to look through so many of these pre-Civil War era reports, can you give us a brief overview of the main 'take-home messages'? I have a few originals that I picked up during the last couple of years, so my view of what they contain is very limited. Aside from the 1804 silver dollars, I had forgotten that other coins were not always struck during the years indicated on the coins themselves. (The Redbook does note this in a footnote for the 1823 large cents.)
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
<< <i>Denga,
Thank you for posting these reports. Since you have had an opportunity to look through so many of these pre-Civil War era reports, can you give us a brief overview of the main 'take-home messages'? I have a few originals that I picked up during the last couple of years, so my view of what they contain is very limited. Aside from the 1804 silver dollars, I had forgotten that other coins were not always struck during the years indicated on the coins themselves. (The Redbook does note this in a footnote for the 1823 large cents.) >>
It is not easy to give a general view of what was said. In the early years, say through about 1805,
the reports have a fair amount of information, but after that not all that much. The 1822 and 1823
reports just posted are typical, perhaps, for that period. Beginning in the 1830s there is considerably
more printed. By the 1850s the reports contain a fair amount of data and from the mid 1870s to after
1900 there might be several hundred pages of discussion and tables. The amount of material then
showed a steady decrease and by the 1930s the reports were fairly thin.