Small silver bullion deposits at New Orleans Mint

RogerB

Available records for the New Orleans Mint indicate that many silver deposits were small - less than 50 oz. This created a lot of extra work for assayers and others involved with determining the value of each deposit. The following letter explains the problem for the Mint while admitting that small deposits were vital to coinage operations. [From RG104 entry 229 box 15 of 17]

BillDugan1959

This letter is excellent as it suggests/reflects something that I have long contended - that the New Orleans Mint was processing Mexican eight reales as a major source of its silver. There was no other source of silver in the South.

Coinosaurus

In other words, the little guy gets the shaft. Written in 1881 and just as true today!

RogerB

BillDugan1959 - There are multiple references to NO processing Mexican 8 reales as bullion and depending on them as an important source of silver. NO also received silver bars from the St. Louis facility of Handy & Crouise.

Here's a table of silver deposits for the 2nd week of May 1881.

Notice there were only four deposits of more than 1,000 ounces, and one was slightly over 30 ounces. During the previous week one deposit was just 19.6 ounces. Since deposits had to be assayed individually, it took nearly as much work to determine the value of a 19 ounce deposit as for a 100,000 ounce deposit.

BillDugan1959

@RogerB

Well, that is all very interesting and I am glad there is proof positive - in the past, I have had Mexican coin enthusiasts insist (as in jumping up and down) that NO did NOT process a lot of eight reales for reminting. I knew that that could not be the case, but didn't have anyplace to show that that was happening. Now, thanks to you, I do.

Letter and ledger copied into my photo library.

ricko

I continue to be intrigued by the interesting facts uncovered in these old documents - AND the penmanship in the letters and records. This is becoming a lost art and many schools have discontinued teaching penmanship. Such a shame. Cheers, RickO

1630Boston

$1.14 per oz....................interesting

RogerB

RE: "I continue to be intrigued by the interesting facts uncovered in these old documents."

The items presented lately all come from letters and correspondence volumes that have recently been digitized. These originals are 130 to 150 years old - long past the time when their contents was common knowledge at the mints.

The act of digitizing - much of it supported by the Newman Numismatic Portal - widens the audience for examination of materials, and allows better understanding of people, processes, events and regulations. BillDuggan's comments further support the utility of this work.

The obvious next step is to convert manuscript (handwriting) into machine readable text that can be searched much faster than the present page-by-page approach. [I am currently exploring ways to do this using methodology that differs from the conventional approaches that have been tried. If there are any expert software development professionals out there, contact me if you are interested in helping.]

RogerB

@1630Boston said:
$1.14 per oz....................interesting

Silver was priced using the morning or evening London fix, but Mint HQ specified that actual buying range and mints/assay offices needed to get approval for large purchases. Notice the long delay in settling the two Handy & Crouise deposits - this delay discouraged refiners from making large deposits, yet the mints had to have silver to make into coins.

dmwest

@RogerB - the stuff you post is so cool. Thanks!