“ The plots on either hand of the entrance on Chestnut street show some happy efforts to please the eye, in a renewal of the sward and landscape gardening in colors. The fine specimens of American cypress in the centre of these plots seem to have borrowed fresh attractions from their new and beautiful setting, and their foliage contrasts pleasingly with the clumps of foliage plants and exotics beneath. Throughout the premises the supervision of a thorough business man is apparent; nothing seems to escape the eyes of the vigilant Superintendent. ”

“ The economic principle upon which the collection has been gathered is a lesson to all governmental departments in frugality, as well as a restraint upon the natural tendency to extravagance which has heretofore distinguished those who have a passion for old coins. There are thousands of coin collectors in the United [42] States, and fortunes have been accumulated in this strange way. More than one authenticated instance has been known in this country where a man has lived in penury, and died from want, yet possessed of affluence in time-defaced coins. ”

“ Love of justice is one of the strong characteristics of the man, and his life has been singularly free from the petty strifes which disfigure the lives of so many who have had to fight their battle against odds. His selection for the Superintendency of the Mint, being unsought, was a just tribute to his unquestioned integrity and his eminent abilities as a public man. The country is fortunate in his preferment, and his administration of the affairs of the Mint will fitly crown an honored career. ”

“ As to the types of coinage, the standards are as numerous as the eyes that water for them, and there is no piece but may be said to be outside of somebody’s tolerance. No other artist undergoes such an ordeal, for those who do not admire this painting or that statue are not compelled to hug and hoard it, much less to toil for its possession. The engraver who can, from his retired window, see the critical millions clutching for his little relievos, is in some sort a hero ex-officio, and it has been well suggested that we look briefly upon the uneventful lives of this worthy line of officers. ”

“ The coins of Siam are much sought for. Some of them, known to European travelers as “bullet money,” are lumps of gold or silver, hammered by rude implements into a doubtful roundness, and a few Siamese characters stamped irregularly upon [51] them. The sacred elephant is found on a large proportion of their money. A Siamese coin in the Cabinet, of modern date, is quite handsome in both workmanship and design. On the obverse is the sacred elephant in ponderous proportion, which delights the eyes of the devout, and the reverse presents a group of three pagodas, finely drawn. ”

“ In the third century, coins stamped with Gothic front faces were issued, and after that date a profusion of coins were brought into the world, as every self-governing city issued money of its own. The earliest money of America was coined of brass, in 1612, and the earliest colonial coins were stamped in Massachusetts, forty years later.
Ancient and extensive as the use of money has been in all its numerous forms and varied materials, it merely represented a property value which had been created by manual labor and preserved by the organic action of society. ”

“ Language upon Coins and Medals.
The effect of coin on language is direct, and many words may be found whose origin was a coin, such as Daric, a pure gold coin; Talent, mental ability; Sterling, genuine, pure; while Guinea represents the aristocratic element, and, though out of circulation long ago, “no one who pretends to gentility in England would think of subscribing to any charity or fashionable object by contributing the vulgar pound. An extra shilling added to the pound makes the guinea, and lifts the subscriber at once into the aristocratic world.” ”

“ The Washington cent of 1791 (so-called) was not a coin of the United States, but was struck at a private mint in Birmingham, England, (Boulton’s) , partly, no doubt, to bespeak the “job,” and partly to please Americans generally.
It has been said that Washington objected to putting his head on the coins, and it may be true; but it was also objected that no man’s head should appear on the coin of a republic, which, whether good doctrine or not, is still the prevailing idea. The “cent of 1791” is of two types, one very rare and costly, with a small eagle. ”

“ More has not been asked or desired, for the officers of the Mint have not sought to vie with the long established collections of the national cabinets of the old world, or even to equal the extravagance of some private numismatists; but they have admirably succeeded in their purpose to secure such coins as would interest all, from the schoolboy to the most enthusiastic archæologist. ”

“ The collection of Roman coins in this Cabinet numbers nearly one thousand, and an acquaintance with it is invaluable for object teaching, as in it is the condensed history, not only of the glory of Rome, “Mistress of the World,” but of her customs, faith, conquests, wealth, culture, divisions, and downfall. Through this entire section of time—one-third of the known history of the world—Roman art, though high, never reached the exalted purity of Greek lines. ”

“ In a primitive state, herds of cattle and crops of grain were almost the only forms of wealth; the natural tendency and disposition of men to accumulate riches led them to fix a special value upon the metals, as a durable and always available kind of property. When their value in this way was generally recognized, the taxes and other revenues, created by kings and other potentates, was collected in part or wholly in that form of money. The government, to facilitate public business, stamped the various pieces of metal with their weight and quality, as they were received at the Treasury ”

“ The delicate trust reposed in all persons employed in the Mint, presupposes that their character is free from all suspicion, but the director feels it his duty nevertheless, in order that none may plead ignorance on the subject, to warn them of the danger of violating so high a trust. Such a crime as the embezzlement of any of the coins struck at the Mint, or of any of the metals brought to the Mint for coinage, would be punished under the laws of Pennsylvania, by a fine and penitentiary imprisonment at hard labor. ”

“ Coins of Standard Value.—In modern times a government first establishes a money of account or ideal unit, and then fixes by law the quantity of gold or silver which shall, in the form of a coin with unlimited legal-tender power, represent that ideal unit. Such coins, with their multiples and divisions, are termed “coins of standard value” or “standard coins.”
Subsidiary Coins.—In the United States silver coins of less denomination than the dollar, which have a nominal value exceeding their intrinsic or bullion value, and limited as legal tender to sums not exceeding five dollars. ”

“ Money of Account.—The ideal unit, or money term, in which accounts are stated or transactions made, as the pound sterling of Great Britain, the dollar of the United States, the franc of France, and the reichsmark of the German Empire. ”

“ No profane or indecent language can be tolerated in the Mint. Smoking within the Mint is inadmissible. The practice is of dangerous tendency; experience proves that this indulgence in public institutions, ends at last in disaster. Visitors may be admitted by permission of an officer, to see the various operations of the Mint on all working days except Saturdays and rainy days; they are to be attended by an officer, or some person designated by him. The new coins must not be given in [16] exchange for others to accommodate visitors, without the consent of the Chief Coiner. ”

“ It is pretty certain that there was no Jewish or Hebrew coin so small as the lepton; that people depended very much upon outside coins for their circulation. Even their money terms had changed to those of the Syrian-Greek Empire and of Rome, as we see from all the instances in the New Testament. What few copper or bronze pieces they had, struck by local princes for a limited time, and now very rare, were large enough to bear a show of devices and inscriptions, for which the lepton was too minute. The one in our cabinet has a diameter of only three-tenths of an inch, and weighs but ten grains. ”

“ In their finest coins we see no Phidias, no Myron, no Praxiteles, but they deteriorate and fluctuate visibly when in or out of contact with the influence of the Grecian mind.
Greek Republic will be first in interest, both historic and artistic. It is conceded that to the Greeks the world owes the introduction of the art of coinage, and though centuries numbered by tens have passed, some of the old Greek coins equal many modern productions in purity of lines, and surpass nearly all in poetic [47] sentiment. ”

“ It is a curious fact that the Imperial standards of platinum (which metal is not subject to oxidation) , although balancing brass weights in a vacuum, weigh in air more than one-half a grain heavier than the latter. This is due to their greater displacement of space.
The unit of weight in the United States is a Troy pound weight obtained from England, a duplicate of the original standard fixed by the commission of 1758, and reasserted by the commission of 1838. It is a bronze weight of 5,760 grains Troy. It is kept in a strong safe at the United States Mint, in Philadelphia. ”

“ All of the scales and delicate test instruments in use by the government, not only in Philadelphia Mint, but at the several branch mints, are manufactured in this country, and as examples of wonderful mechanical machines of minute accuracy they lead the world. ”

“ In precious metals, gold, silver, and their high grade alloys, a very small variation in the fineness makes a great difference in the value. Nothing is more essential than the accurate determination of the weight of the sample and of the metal obtained from it. It requires keen sight and most delicate adjustment in the hand which manipulates the Lilliputian scales of an Assayer’s table. The smallest weight used in the Mint is found in the Assay Room ”

“ The dies for coining are prepared by engravers, especially employed at the Mint for that purpose. The process of engraving them consists in cutting the devices and legends in soft steel, those parts being depressed which, in the coin, appear in relief. This, having been finished and hardened, constitutes an “original die,” which, being the result of a tedious and difficult task, is deemed too precious to be directly employed in striking coins; but it is used for multiplying dies. ”

“ It may be assumed, with all due deference to royalty, that this portrayal is the most laughter-provoking figure ever stamped on metal. She is so fat as to have the effect of “spreading herself” all over the coin. Another rouble presents the majestic Catherine II.
Of the coins marked Denmark, Norway, Sweden, there can be only the copper half-daler of Sweden mentioned. This coin is four inches square, weighs about twelve ounces, and is equivalent to a United States silver half-dollar. The daler of Sweden, thaler of Germany, dollar of Spain and America, are all synonymous terms. ”

“ The gold pressure continued for about five years, when it was relieved by the creation of a Government assay office in New York, and a branch mint at San Francisco. But directly sequent to this came the change of standard in silver coin, causing an immense recoinage in small pieces. Thus our daily assays continued to count by hundreds. This lasted for some years. When it began to slacken off, a law was passed for calling in the large copper coins and issuing in their stead pieces of copper-nickel alloy of much smaller size. ”

“ Fineness.—A term indicating the proportion of pure metal contained in a piece of gold or silver. Fineness is expressed in thousandths; that is, pure metal is 1000. United States coin is 900⁄1000 fine, or decimally .900 fine. Fineness is estimated by jewelers and workers in the precious metals by “carats,” pure metal being 24 carats. Thus 22 carats, the British standard for gold coins, is 22⁄24, or decimally, 9162⁄3 fine.
Deposit—Melting.—The operation of melting a deposit of gold or silver at the Mint to secure a homogeneity of metals, preliminary to taking a sample for assaying. ”

“ In those days, about the time the new mint edifice on Chestnut street was finishing, Mr. Peale was sent to London and Paris to observe the methods of assaying and refining, and to procure a new apparatus. We were thus supplied with French beams, weights, and cupel furnaces, and with the appliances of Gay-Lussac’s humid assay, and the printed details of the process. Soon after, Mr. Saxton, famous for his skill in constructing balances and other delicate instruments, returned from a long schooling in that line in London, and was employed in the Mint. ”

“ This well-executed bust of “the handsomest man in Europe,” was said to be the means of Sir Francis Chantrey being knighted. That vain monarch was as careful about how his face would appear to future generations as was Alexander of Macedon; and Chantrey well knew if he placed upon the shoulders of sixty years the head of forty years, he had given the cabalistic words which would be the “open sesame” to royal favor.
The gold sovereign of Victoria, Nos. 183-184, has, on the reverse, an evidence of coins as a deposit of law archives. ”

“ Coins and medals mark the introduction of laws; for example, an old Porcian coin gives the date of the “law of appeal,” under which, two centuries and a half later, Paul appealed to Cæsar. Another relic dates the introduction of the ballot-box; and a fact interesting to the agriculturist is established by an old silver coin of Ptolemy, upon which a man is represented cutting millet (a variety of Indian corn) with a scythe. Religions have been promulgated by coins. Islamism says upon a gold coin, “No God but God. Mohammed is the Prophet and God’s chosen apostle.” ”

“ S. gold or S. silver, as its standard coins of one or the other metal are unlimited legal tender. The par of exchange of the monetary unit of a country with a single gold, or a double, standard is fixed at the value of the gold unit as compared with the United States gold unit. In the case of a country with a single silver standard, the par of exchange is computed at the mean price of silver in the London market for a period commencing October 1 and ending December 26, 1886, as per daily cable dispatches to the Bureau of the Mint. ”

“ It is by law the dollar unit; and, assuming the value of gold to be fifteen and one-half times that of silver, being about the mean ratio for the past six years, is worth in gold a premium of about three per cent., its value being $1.03.12, and intrinsically more than seven per cent. premium in our other silver coins, its value thus being $1.07.42. The present laws consequently authorize both a gold dollar unit and a silver dollar unit, differing from each other in intrinsic value. The present gold dollar-piece is made the dollar unit in the proposed bill, and the silver piece is discontinued. ”

“ But perhaps the most notable of the improvements which Superintendent Fox has made is the removal of the old steam plant from the body of the basement and the creation of a new and much more efficient plant in vaults prepared outside of the walls. This has had the effect to render the atmosphere of the building cool and pure, and at the same time has actually increased the working space nearly forty per cent. Another story has also been added to the adjusting room, with appliances for cooking and toilet, thus increasing the comfort of the ladies employed in that department. ”