2ND LOOK: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FIRST U.S. MINT

In an article published January 28, 2016 in Coin Update, Dennis Tucker of Whitman Publishing revisits a fine numismatic book - The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint by Joel Orosz and Len Augsburger. Here's an excerpt. -Editor

It seems like just yesterday, but it’s been almost five years! On January 6, 2011, at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) Show in Tampa, Whitman Publishing released The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint: How Frank H. Stewart Destroyed—And Then Saved—A National Treasure. The 336-page hardcover would go on to win the prestigious “Book of the Year” award from the Numismatic Literary Guild.

If you haven’t read Secret History yet, head to your favorite bookseller or visit your local library; you can also borrow it for free from the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library if you’re a member of the American Numismatic Association.

This remarkable tale is ripped from the headlines of early 20th-century Philadelphia, and Frank H. Stewart is both its hero and its villain. Stewart was a study in contrasts: a high-school dropout who wrote the definitive history of our nation’s first coin factory; by no means an art connoisseur, and yet he commissioned famous artists to paint unforgettable images of the first U.S. Mint. A poor boy made good, Stewart bought the old Mint, labored to preserve it, and failed in the most dramatic way possible. Could his later acts of commemoration redeem his failures in preservation?

The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint tells, for the first time, the full story of the paradoxical Frank H. Stewart and his self-appointed life’s mission to celebrate an irreplaceable slice of Philadelphia’s—and our nation’s—heritage. It’s a tour-de-force work of scholarship that sets straight long-misunderstood Mint history.

Award-winning authors Joel Orosz and Leonard Augsburger filled their manuscript with dozens of sketches, paintings, and photographs of the first Mint that have been preserved in archival collections for decades, and hadn’t been seen by living numismatists until Secret History was published.

To read the complete article, see:
Exploring the Secrets of the First Philadelphia Mint (http://news.coinupdate.com/exploring-the-secrets-of-the-first-philadelphia-mint/)

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FIRST U.S. MINT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v13n49a04.html)
BOOK REVIEW: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FIRST U. S. MINT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n15a04.html)
BOOK REVIEW: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE FIRST U.S. MINT (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n17a07.html)

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