The attached 1867 letter was found in the Mint archives. Under normal circumstances the engraver was given written instructions to strike medals for private institutions or for sale by the Mint. The order for a gold half eagle ingot and silver quarter dollar ingot is special but the meaning is not known; the purpose cannot be for proof coins as these were done by the chief coiner, A. Loudon Snowden. It is possible that there were special test runs in the engraver’s department for these two denominations but available pattern references do not show anything that might apply.

Longacre’s name is misspelled, which only adds to the interest of this letter.