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Which Secretary of the Treasury was an active coin collector? Answer added.
RogerB
Posts: 8,881 ✭✭✭✭✭
Might be more than one...or less than one.
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William Hartman Woodin immediately comes to mind for me.
Never knew his middle name before.
The Stamp Collectors' Forum has an even easier one. You likely already know his middle name
Henry Morgenthau Jr. perhaps collected banks while his boss was doing stamps?
Alexander Hamilton told Jefferson his half-dismes were stodgier than Martha's bosoms.
Eva somebody? who later became ANA President? Or was she a Treasurer?
Frances Perkins? Harriet Tubman? Edith Bolling Galt? Wallis Warfield Simpson?
That's the most significant, Zoins.
Some information on Woodin:
William H Woodin, later Secretary of the Treasury in 1933, is best known for his collection of pattern and trial coins, and in 1913 he prepared and published a book on the subject. Earlier, however, particularly during the 1880's and 1890's, Mr. Woodin devoted himself to the collection of the varieties of the early gold denominations of $10, $5, $3, $2.50 and $1, focusing chiefly on the collection of the varieties of the Half Eagle. He also collected the mint mark coins.
Along with John H. Clapp, Woodin was a pioneer in identifying and collecting Classic Gold on a varietal basis. In 1914, as part of the American Numismatic Society Exhibition of U.S. and Colonial Coins held January 17 through February 18, 1914 in New York City, Woodin exhibited his patterns and many gold coins, including his Half Eagle Gold cabinet. Woodin displayed 19 different varieties of the Half Eagle series. One of the varieties was a Crosslet 4.
In the earliest auction known to include the 1834 $5 Crosslet 4, William H. Woodin sold his duplicate About Uncirculated example along with much of his gold collection, including his Classic Head quarter eagle collection, at the Thomas Elder sale of March 1911.
Neat information. I thought of Woodin mostly in relation to patterns.
Woodin was not alone....there are more.
John Wesley Snyder. He built a Presidential Type Set, a type set for the years each President was in Office. He brought President Harry S. Truman to the Stack’s offices. I wonder how many Presidents have visited coin dealer offices? His collection was placed in, and unfortunately stolen from, the Truman Library.
Good one !
Did the theft include his "$80" bill - custom engraved and printed by BEP?
There are more.
No more guesses?
Coin collecting Secretaries of the Treasury that we know about.
Oliver Wolcott Jr. (foreign medals and coins)
Albert Gallatin (foreign medals and coins)
Leslie M. Shaw (coins and medals related to his term of office, and TR)
William Woodin (expert in patterns, plus gold, etc. as already mentioned)
Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (limited to an office collection) Bought from Stack’s and John Zug
George Humphrey (as already mentioned)
Most pre-1880 upper middle class families had small collections of antiques, classical sculpture, medals and world coins. The above evidently had more extensive items that the routine.