MORE ON TEMPORARY U.S. MINT FACILITIES

One location of a temporary Mint site is hard to pin down! It kept moving.

In commemoration of the Pennsylvania Bicentennial on October 24, 1882, The Mint gave out medals during a parade. Julian (Medals of the United States Mint – The First Century 1792-1892) reported, "There was to be a wagon drawn by six horeses, carrying a steam press, from which newly struck medals would be thrown to the crowds."

First let me comment on those horeses. I'm not sure what those were in 1882, but I think of something I saw the last time I drove down Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis.

I visualize something like a steam calliope with hissing clouds of vapor and levers moving up and down. I have never been sure if the medals were actually struck from the moving wagon or if they were prepared in advance. Perhaps Dick Johnson was there and can give us a report.

I collect medals struck by the Mint at temporary sites and listed as "So-Called-Dollars." I believe I have some from the Centennial Exposition, 1876 (HK 20-22): World's Industrial & Cotton Centennial Exposition, 1884-1885 (HK 142); World's Columbian Exposition, 1892-1893 (HK 154-155); Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition, 1898 (HK 281-283); Pan-American Exposition, 1901 (HK 287-289); Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 1904 (HK 299-304); Jamestown Tercentennial Exposition, 1907 (HK 344-347); Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, 1909 (HK 353-356); Ohio Valley Exposition, 1910 (HK 393-395); Panama-Pacific International Exposition, 1915 (HK 399-401); Panama-California Exposition, 1915-1916 (HK 426-429); U. S. Sesquicentennial Exposition, 1926 (HK 451-454); and Century of Progress Exposition, 1933-1934 (HK 464). It is possible that additional medals were produced in Philadelphia and distributed at similar expositions.

To read the complete article, see: NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: SEPTEMBER 4, 2011; On Temporary U.S. Mint Facilities (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n37a20.html)

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web