Scoundrels of the Mint
Rittenhouse
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As I noted in the Fugio cent thread, there are four gents (and I use that term very loosely) who were so dishonest, using their positions for personal profit that they truly deserve the term scoundrel. while James Jarvis was not a mint employee, he was under contract to the gov't, so he fully deserves inclusion.
Ax I mentioned, the others are Franklin Peale, Henry Linderman, and A. Loudon Snowden.
Peale, who was appointed Chief Coiner on his return from visiting mint in Europe in service of the mint, pretty much avoided any of the actual duties of the Chief Coiner. From 1839, when former Chief Coiner Adam Eckfeldt retired, until 1852 when he died, he came into the mint at no pay and performed all of the duties while Peale was engaged in special projects like setting up the southern mints.
When Peale was actually at the Philly mint, he spent most of his time using mint equipment to produce medals and some coins for private sale, often causing delays in coinage. When Eckfeldt died, he wrote a frantic letter to the director asking for an assistant! Documentation shows that Peale often made as much from his private business as he did in salary and sometimes twice as much.
He had a personal vendetta against Chief Engraver James Longacre, likely because Longacre would not engrave for him, going so far as to "accidentally" destroy one of Longacre's plaster coin models he had sent to Peale to make the galvanos. As Longacre later wrote, he had taken the precaution of making a backup.
Due to increasing complaints, including using mint employees for personal services like painting his house, Peale finally got asked to leave in 1854. It was good riddance for just a short time as Peale promptly filed a claim with Congress for the "improvements" he supposedly developed for the mint, including the steam press, rimming machines, counting board, humid assay process, etc.
Never mind that he had the designs for the steam press and rimming machines copied from the equipment at the Paris mint while on a mint-paid trip there, that the counting board was actually developed by Rufus Tyler, and the humid assay process was based on what he had seen at the Paris mint.
Yup, Peale was a gem. Congress finally granted his widow 10K just to get rid of her.
Then we have Henry Linderman and A. Loudon Snowden. Linderman started his career as the Director's Clerk. While clerk sounds like a minor position, he was actually vice chief operating officer of the mint Not only was he responsible for assigning and ensuring daily work went as planned, he was in charge when the Director was absent. Linderman used his position, and the fact that he literally had all the keys, to restrike and sell coins that were in demand by advanced (and well-heeled) collectors.
Henry enlisted A. Loudon Snowden as his compatriot in deceit. While Snowden had the minor position of Registrar of Deposits at the time, he was also Director James Ross Snowden's nephew. So, fire Linderman for restriking and the Director's nephew goes too! Betcha that woulda gone over well at family reunions!
Linderman eventually became Director and Snowden eventually became Chief Coiner and then Superintendent of the Philly mint. They continued to use their position to produce restrikes for personal profit. Most of the restrike Gobrecht dollars are their work as are the restrike proof half cents, and most of the restrike patterns.
In the 1850 and 60s alone, it was estimated that Linderman and A.L. produced and sold over 50K worth of coins (collector value). Linderman was under investigation for various frauds in 1877, including a stock swindle, a kick-back scheme involving mint payments for silver, nepotism, etc. He was denied reappointment as Director and dies shortly thereafter, thus avoiding prosecution.
God ole AL, continued the restriking until 1885, when he too was asked to leave or get prosecuted. AL produced the 1884 and 1885 Proof Trade dollars, some 1804 dollar restrikes, and numerous other goodies. It was said he left the mint with several TRUNKS full of coins!
BTW, there is no such thing as the "Midnight Minters." That is a Breen concoction. The restriking was all done during normal working hours using mint employees. However, unlike Peale, Linderman and AL "spread the wealth," paying the employees for their efforts, so there was never a single complaint against them. why would there be, they were all on the payola!!!
And the story of Theodore Eckfeldt being the one who restruck 1804 dollars? Horsecrap. Teddy was dumber than a bag of rusty hammers, he was a "cutout" for Linderman and AL.
Comments
Another awesome thread. Many thanks.
No “Midnight Minter?” Pish Tosh! Next you’ll be telling me that Don Taxay isn’t the Grand High Llama of Shangri-Lah!
i think we owe a big thanks to these scoundrels for making all that cool stuff, making the US catalog that much more interesting
The wid west...
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For the most part, Taxay is very accurate. He just couldn't resist occasionally slipping into the "story telling mode" that was so popular among that generation. I guess they thought they were making things interesting.
So, lying, cheating, and stealing is OK as long as the story is interesting? If not already one, you should become a defense attorney. "But your Honor, many people found the story of my client's bank robbery very interesting. We should thank him for adding some pizazz to a slow news day."
Interesting read. But if we are going to call out these folks for restriking the coins to meet a demand, we also need to place blame on the well healed collectors who benefited from working in cahoots with them in these dealings.
Yeah, there were some "in cahoots." However, the restrikes were sold at auction or privately generally with the buyer being unaware that the coin was a restrike. In fact, the price of some of these coins crashed once collectors figured it out.
Perhaps the most famous example is that of the Gobrecht dollar "Name Below Base" fantasy piece. When it first appeared, collectors were confused and it did not sell. A couple auctioneers who were outlets for Linderman's restrikes, Edward Cogan and J.N.T. Levick, then engaged in a pump-and-dump scheme, taking turns buying these at each others' auctions. They got the price to $90. Too many subsequently appeared and the price crashed to the 30 - 40 range and remained there for decades.
In sum, don't blame the buyers. Most of them were as victimized as the govt.
Any particular thoughts on the overstrikes found within the Restrike era universe?
Having been up close and personal with the Linderman Class 3 1804, I can attest that it was very well made by somebody who knew what they were doing. It could have easily passed as a genuine 1804 Dollar among the collectors of the day who had the money to buy an 1804 Dollar, though I understand that Linderman kept it for himself.
With that type of quality available to the Restrikes, what blithering idiot struck one over an 1857 Swiss Shooting Thaler and left the edge unlettered? Surely any one of these high rollers would have spotted it immediately, and exposed the Restriking racket. There are other flagrant overstrikes. And don't call me Shirley.
Perhaps one of the people working for the Restrikers went rogue and struck a few things for his own account on the side, though possibly at 3:37 P.M. rather than Midnight. I do not state this as fact, but I throw the possibility out there for discussion.
TD
Overstrikes are a Linderman signature. He even overstruck on HOLED coins!!!! Overstrikes is one of the ways Linderman got away with his enterprise. Unlike Peale, he did not filch metal or interfere with production. He also used rejected planchets, especially underweights, replacing the planchets with his own already struck coin so the books balanced. I strongly suspect he replaced rejected planchets with coins on a one-for-one basis and thus Chief Coiner would be credited with a small amount of "extra silver" reducing the wastage in his dept. Bet that made him popular.
Add in paying the workers and it's no wonder he was never reported. I strongly suspect even those not directly involved in the striking got paid; maybe a free turkey or ham for the holidays, tickets to the theater or... He pretty much HAD to pay-off everyone lest some minor worker get jealous and squeal. I'll bet even the janitor got something.
Tell me more about the holed understrike!
It's on a proof Seated dime. Email Saul about it.