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For collectors of gold Railway Mail Service medals.
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
This might be of interest. Does anyone have an example to post?
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Thanks.
I really enjoy these historical letters that you have been sharing with us.
Wanamaker was the fellow who passed out new 1913 Buffalo nickels to Native American chiefs at the groundbreaking for the National American Indian Memorial. There's a bridge footing there now.
This is presumably UN-31. Julian reports 33 struck in gold, but he doesn't have a picture and I've never seen an example.
+1
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
Neat........that really meant something back then. My 35 year pin from the Postal Service is made out of some kind of pot metal. It was supposed to be awarded to me on the workroom floor, but I received it by mail at home after I retired.
I wish I was an RPO Clerk.
Pete
really neat letter, historical
BHNC #203
A bit off topic but would like to share this.
Are there pictures of the gold medals available? Surely there is a reference book covering these items. Cheers, RickO
First off, Good God does his penmanship put mine to shame!
Second - is this the original letter or a copy of some sort? The paper looks so new?
I was wondering if this was part of a book of "office copies" of correspondence sent. The writing looks the same as some other letters that Roger posted earlier in the week, which were on the same page, but addressed to different people.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The letter is a "fair copy" on page 422 of volume number 058 of Letters Sent by the Bureau of the Mint. It is located at NARA College Park, Maryland. Most of these volumes are in excellent condition so far as the pages go. They used thick, high quality paper and the books have been closed to air circulation for over a century. Many volumes have never been opened since they were originally bound in leather. The leather has dried and now emits orange dust every time a book is handled. Fingers and clothing are quickly covered with the dust.
[ A "fair copy" was a manuscript copy of an original letter onto an 8- or 16-page bound signature of lined paper stock. One clerk might make all fair copes for weeks or months, or just for a day or two. Completed signatures were assembled into volumes of approximately 500 pages and these were leather bound. These were the official office copies used for reference by Mint clerks and managers. In 1897 the Secretary of Treasury prohibited further use of fair copy books, and all letters were typed and press copies made for reference files.]
I photographed the pages one-by-one with a digital camera, then made minor lighting corrections. It's still experimental, and NARA has a long list of requirements and limitations on making the photos. After photography, it takes several hours to assign file numbers matching the volume and page numbers, then check, and convert to PDF for use by NNP or others. I keep a copy of original images, corrected images and final PDF. It takes about 1 full day to complete a 500-page volume. The final PDF is about 650 meg in RGB color.
Awesome, thanks Roger! Such a great piece of history