Entertainment for Assay Commission members discouraged
RogerB
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"Treasury Department
February 3, 1855
J. Ross Snowden, Esq.
Director of the Mint
Sir,
In reply to your letter of the 30th ult., I have to state, that this Department has not changed its views in regard to the dinner heretofore given to the gentlemen who have made the Annual Assay, it being against its taste and judgement for refreshment to be given in such an establishment as the Mint. The Department will hot, however, give a peremptory order in the matter. In regards the number and description of persons to be included at such entertainments as of minor importance, the essential point being the inessentialness [sic] and incongruity of such proceedings to the character of an institution of so much importance and of such delicate and interesting functions.
Very respectfully, Your obedient servant
James Gutherie,
Secretary of the Treasury
[RG104 Entry 215 Vol 7 of 14]
Comments
No booze or no strippers?
No, just a couch that passed gas.
A: The year they spend more on their library than their coin collection.
A numismatist is judged more on the content of their library than the content of their cabinet.
I guess his “obedient servant” is a super kill joy, party pooper. Geez.
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The usual entertainment included a catered dinner at the Mint including wines and after dinner cigars and liquors. Some years later, this was moved off-site and eventually the liquor and cigars were omitted. Eventually, members got a casual luncheon on the first day and per-diem otherwise.
I think there are a couple of members here who were on one of the last Assay Commissions....what was the custom back then before President Carter saved the nation huge sums by ending the Assay Commission?
I know Ken Hallenbeck, who was on the Assay Commission held in 1974. He did get to hold a 1974 aluminum cent that was passed around for show and tell, but it was not a part of the official commission work.
The luncheon was held off site and it was nice, but he had to pay for his wife, June's, lunch out of his own pocket. They also had to pay for their own transportation to Philadelphia and their hotel room and other meals.
Interesting. Earlier Commission members had their transportation, hotel, and meals paid, or a per diem.
And there was a waiting line to get on the Commission
Conflict of interest, system abuse, bribes the usual government stuff.
Sounds kind of like the waiting line for a chance to get on "American Ninja Warrior!"
Until the 19-teens the Treasury often had difficulty persuading people to participate in the Assay Commission. Only expenses were paid, plus a medal, and the Commission took two and sometimes three days to complete. Then all the vouchers had to be submitted for payment and members waited several months for a check.
There was never any mention of "Conflict of interest, system abuse, bribes the usual government stuff" over almost 200 years of the Commission's work.
Some of the later assay commission files (1960s) at NARA indicate what food was served at the accompanying banquets. Whether J.J. Pittman, et al, actually ate their vegetables is not recorded.
Thanks for translating, that meeting sound kind of boring
I guess we all are going down to the village for a steam job and a blow bath. I'll drive. Peace Roy
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Well, Ken said that as a numismatist he had tried to get on the Commission several times during the Johnson Administration, until somebody tipped him off that he belonged to the wrong political party. Then Nixon got in and he was told that if he did enough work for the Republican Party the state (Indiana) Party Chairman would recommend him. After a few years the Chairman said he would put in a good word to Mary (Brooks), and lo and behold he was selected.
The "plumb" of being on the Commission is really a post-WW-II concept. By the late 1950s coin collectors viewed the Commission as a special award or recognition and the medals were a large incentive.
The main incentive for the Commission was independent citizen examination of gold coinage. That was important in international commerce and as a mark of status among nations. After 1934, there was little purpose to the Commission and President Carter's action was long overdue.
I guess the roughly two million gold coins struck in 2015 don't count.
Chicago dealer Leonard Stark was on one of the Kennedy commissions and proudly displayed his JFK signed certificate in his store.
No, they don't. They are not circulating legal tender and don't fall under the Commission's charter or rules....when it existed.
But they are legal tender, and people buy and sell them for their precious metal content. There was an error whereby an American Eagle coin was struck on a 24kt American Buffalo planchet (or was it vice versa?) and the coin did not meet its legal standards.
They are not issued as circulating coins.