Frank H. Stewart is both the hero and the villain in this remarkable tale ripped from the headlines of early 20th century Philadelphia. He was a high school dropout who wrote the definitive history of our nation's first coin factory. He was no art connoisseur, and yet he commissioned unforgettable paintings of the first U.S. Mint, by famous artists. 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 our nations heritage. It is a tour-de-force work of scholarship that sets straight long misunderstood Mint history. This groundbreaking new book by award winning authors Joel Orosz and Leonard Augsburger is filled with dozens of sketches, paintings, and photographs of the first Mint that have been preserved in archival collections for decades, and have not been seen by living
"As the ink was drying on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other documents that established the United States, millions of Americans hungered for new legal tender coinage from the young sovereign nation. Following calls by Alexander Hamilton and other Founding Fathers for the nation to issue its own money, Congress passed legislation to officially establish the United States Mint in 1792. Growing from its humble beginnings as a collection of small buildings in the nation's onetime capital city of Philadelphia, the United States Mint now stands along Independence National Historical Park as the largest coin factory in the world. While the Philadelphia Mint is one of several official United States coin manufacturing facilities, it remains the heart of coining operations in the nation and is also one of the most popular attractions in "The City of Brotherly Love"."--Back cover.
Robert Scot was without doubt the most prolific of colonial American engravers. His patriotic symbols inspired sentiments of rebellion, unity and liberty throughout the Revolutionary period, and on into the early nineteenth century. His highly-skilled engravings depicted important historical events, such as a detailed map of the Siege of Yorktown, and included the original design for the Great Seal of the United States, various medals, coins, and paper currency. In addition, the first encyclopedia published in America was enhanced by his superb scientific engravings. Until now, despite his significant achievements, this friend of the Founding Fathers has largely remained unknown to both historians and the general American public. William Nyberg's extensive research of Scot and his world now allows his story to be told for the first time. This enthralling biography justifiably places Robert Scot among the most important and influential or early American artists.
The Value of Money celebrates the power of using monetary objects to explore history. This richly illustrated book features over 175 objects from the Smithsonian National Museum of American History’s National Numismatic Collection. With objects from every inhabited continent, spanning more than 2,600 years, this book showcases the National Numismatic Collection’s unique strengths, including the geographic and chronological diversity of the collection and the stunning rarities it contains. The companion volume to a major exhibition of the same name, this book examines the origins of money, new monetary technologies, the political and cultural messages money conveys, numismatic art and design, and the practice of collecting money. The Value of Money connects American history to global histories of exchange, cultural interaction and expression, political change, and innovation.
It's the most valuable ounce of gold in the world, the celebrated, the fabled, the infamous 1933 double eagle, illegal to own and coveted all the more, sought with passion by men of wealth and with steely persistence by the United States government for more than a half century—it shouldn't even exist but it does, and its astonishing, true adventures read like "a composite of The Lord of the Rings and The Maltese Falcon" (The New York Times). In 1905, at the height of the exuberant Gilded Age, President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned America's greatest sculptor, Augustus Saint-Gaudens—as he battled in vain for his life—to create what became America's most beautiful coin. In 1933 the hopes of America dimmed in the darkness of the Great Depression, and gold—the nation's lifeblood—hemorrhaged from the financial system. As the economy teetered on the brink of total collapse, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in his first act as president, assumed wartime powers while the nation was at peace and in a "swift, staccato action" unprecedented in United States history recalled all gold and banned its private ownership. But the United States Mint continued, quite legally, to strike nearly a half million 1933 double eagles that were never issued and were deemed illegal to own. In 1937, along with countless millions of other gold coins, they were melted down into faceless gold bars and sent to Fort Knox. The government thought they had destroyed them all—but they were wrong. A few escaped, purloined in a crime—an inside job—that wasn't discovered until 1944. Then, the fugitive 1933 double eagles became the focus of a relentless Secret Service investigation spearheaded by the man who had put away Al Capone. All the coins that could be found were seized and destroyed. But one was beyond their reach, in a king's collection in Egypt, where it survived a world war, a revolution, and a coup, only to be lost again. In 1996, more than forty years later, in a dramatic sting operation set up by a Secret Service informant at the Waldorf-Astoria, an English and an American coin dealer were arrested with a 1933 double eagle which, after years of litigation, was sold in July 2002 to an anonymous buyer for more than $7.5 million in a record-shattering auction. But was it the only one? The lost one? Illegal Tender, revealing information available for the first time, tells a riveting tale of American history, liberally spiced with greed, intrigue, deception, and controversy as it follows the once secret odyssey of this fabulous golden object through the decades. With its cast of kings, presidents, government agents, shadowy dealers, and crooks, Illegal Tender will keep readers guessing about this incomparable disk of gold—the coin that shouldn't be and almost wasn't—until the very end.
Cook presents a guide to the lost coins of early America, artifacts that played a significant role in the founding and growth of the nation. (Antiques/Collectibles)
Every coin collector knows about the United States Mint's American Eagle bullion coins. But did you know that the Mint has produced more than 150 other collectible works of silver and gold bullion since the national Bicentennial in 1976? They include some of the most beautiful coins and medals ever engraved for the United States. Some were runaway best-sellers and made national headlines. Others are well-kept secrets. Many are sought by collectors and investors around the globe. Some are "sleepers" - underappreciated treasures with great potential waiting to be discovered. Now, award-winning author Dennis Tucker shares years of research and unique perspective in a colorful exploration of these amazing pieces of Americana. He takes you behind the scenes at the U.S. Treasury, into the engraving department of the U.S. Mint and the chambers of Congress, even to the White House, where questions about the nation's precious metals have been argued for generations. Inside you'll find a richly illustrated history of silver and gold in the coinage of colonial America and the United States. You'll see why silver and gold were difficult for the average American to acquire through most of our history. Learn about the American Arts gold medallion program of the early 1980s, and the U.S. Mint's recent American Buffalo, First Spouse, and America the Beautiful bullion programs. Bicentennial gold medals, the 2014 gold Kennedy half dollar, 1916-2016 centennial gold coins, silver Wildlife Refuge Service medals, the 9/11 national medal, and other important modern productions all are cataloged and described inside. Along the way Tucker shines light on a thousand people, places, and points in American history: military heroes and famous artists, awe-inspiring landmarks, fearless innovators, dreamers and doers.
