Half dollar collectors will find this letter "interesting."

RogerB

Sometimes, Mint Directors were not entirely sure of the facts....or so it seems.

TomB

I love letters like this.

Aside from obvious discrepancies, do you think it possible that the Director of the Mint was acknowledging that 1796-dated half dollars were actually struck in 1797?

RogerB

While it would be nice if he really knew when 1796 halves were struck, I suspect a clerk grabbed whatever information was handy. Other letters include admissions that much of the early production information was missing or ambiguous. Personally, I want one of those genuine 1793 halves -- the one with the flying turkey on them.

messydesk

I wonder if the 1793 is available in a special collector's set along with the 1804.

epcjimi1

@RogerB said:
Other letters include admissions that much of the early production information was missing or ambiguous.

Admissions Such as? Ramifications of that?

RogerB

"Admissions Such as? Ramifications of that?"

In responses to inquiries, there are several mentions of early records being missing or unclear or not prepared according to later practice. Even as late as 1866 the Coiner had difficulty assembling delivery records for the Director, because the old method did not clearly show what was delivered and when. Snowden changed that when he became Coiner.

What it means is that we will probably never know when most early US coins were struck or delivered by date or even variety -- it is all guess work based on what little we can piece together.

ricko

It still amazes me that a letter, handwritten, over 120 years old, can be pulled from the archives - albeit with some inaccuracy - and add to historical knowledge in the present. Cheers, RickO

WoodenJefferson

...and to think 120 years later we no longer teach 'cursive' hand writing.

TomB

@WoodenJefferson said:
...and to think 120 years later we no longer teach 'cursive' hand writing.

Thankfully, my daughters have been taught cursive in their school and are required to use it in certain subjects. I've written it before and I will write it again; buy and use a fountain pen and your handwriting will likely improve while the stress on your wrist and/or fingers will be reduced. We use fountain pens in our household daily.

1630Boston

My 12 year old was reprimanded for writing his name in cursive on a school paper.............but his science teacher has never heard of a Van der Graaf generator as well, which by the way I helped him build with a soda can when he was about 6 or 7 years old.

RogerB

"It still amazes me that a letter, handwritten, over 120 years old, can be pulled from the archives - albeit with some inaccuracy - and add to historical knowledge in the present."

To the extent possible, with no resources and a few trusty volunteers, bringing this information out and making it available to collectors is the point of transcribing Mint documents into searchable text.

[A science teacher who did not know about Robert J. Van de Graaff ? Nutz!]