VAMWorld 2.0

I would like to know the context of "unusual expenditure for transportation" though. I'm intrigued. Budget estimates were prepared almost 18 months in advance. One of the categories was funds to pay for transportation of specie from place to place under annual contracts with Express companies or th...

Sounds like you agree with me. I read the two as positive offers to help the NO mint keep employees working, use metal they had not coined frequently, and use the practical lessons learned by other mints. The language is normal business-type for that period, which is somewhat indirect and wordy. He...

Interesting take-away from those paragraphs. The paragraph content is entirely true -- the New Orleans mint employees had limited experience in making gold coins. The DM also added the crucible info to help the NO M&R get going. New Orleans had been predominantly a silver dollar facility since 1879....

Interesting. Can you explain more about what led to your interpretation? Are their certain words or phrases that stand out?

So, you're proposing a "fixed price list" -- or, having the price list "fixed" so there won't be any little 'listettes' running around ?

Ah Ha! The famous "Plumber's Crack." VAM 24.7.365.25 !

In researching numismatic subjects in the Mint Archives, the focus is largely on specific subjects – a certain mint, coins of specific denominations, quantities made, and so forth. What we often skip, both in research and in digitizing originals, are the ordinary, routine exchange of letters that do...

Thought this might be of interest to members. (Also notice how much better this "old" copy version is than the 2021 imitation sold by the Mint.)

https://coinweek.com/1964-morgan-dollar ... -analysis/

James Longacre tried to maintain central control of dies but it wasn't until 1855 and later that the Coining Dept. gradually transferred die making entirely to the Engraving Dept. William Barber fixed this custody in place when he became Engraver of the United States Mint at Philadelphia (His real i...

To add a little bit.... In the 1880s and later each mint sent an order to the Engraving Dept. the the total quantity of dies for each denomination they expected to use for the coming year. This was done in Sept and October. The Engraver (Barber) acknowledged the orders and began preparing working di...

Dies for each denomination were made in batches and numbered consecutively, but before mintmarks were added. The "missing" dies might have gone to fulfill a different mint's order. Before numbering, all the dies were the same - that is, the numbers were arbitrary and did not describe the order of ma...

So far, I've seen references for 55 pairs as of Sept 27, 1888. But that's not close to what the table shows. Older left-over dies ("Turkey Day Dies" ?) were returned several years before. Here's what the Engraver said: Mint of the United States at Philadelphia, Pa., ENGRAVER'S DEPARTMENT, January 8,...

Table shows 58 pairs of dollar dies used/returned in 1887. Reverse dies to be inspected and usable ones reissued.

A first impression is 100% fake. Might have come from China or Colorado....

Similar to previous posted list. The double set of digits represent two parallel columns of die numbers.

These two tables list all Standard Silver Dollar dies used at the New Orleans Mint during CY 1885 and 1886. Thought this might be useful to members.

RE: "Where are the plate shots?"

Full plates were served last Thursday and have, since then, been thoroughly scraped, licked, finger rubbed and scrubbed clean. Nary a leftover bit of roast VAM, 'tater transfer, or oyster stuffed crack remain.

Here's a quick sample showing delivery quantities by date Oct-Dec 1879. (There are additional statements, but this is the only one seen so far -to 1882- that has this much detail.)

The following two boxes of documents from the New Orleans Mint will soon be available on NNP's website. I have not had time to review contents. Access is free to view, browse or download. Box 41 1879-91 New Orleans (652 pages) Box 42 1891-98 New Orleans (202 pages) These are the final New Orleans Mi...