| UNITED STATES ASSAY
COMMISSION MEDAL 1879 AC-19 Possibly one of four issued |
| The
AC-19 medal memorialized the death of two (unrelated) individuals. The
obverse referring to Henry R. Linderman, the late director of the mint,
and Joseph Henry (The "Henry" on the tomb), director of the Smithsonian
who actually died in 1878, a year earlier than indicated. This medal was the first Assay medal to be larger than the standard 33 mm standard. At 38 mm., AC-19 is the size, of the contemporary silver dollar, and at 27.45 gram, it was close in weight to the Trade Dollar (27.22 g) which, incidentally, was championed by Henry R. Linderman. The other pieces, in the series, at 33 mm. are larger than the half dollar (30.6 mm). Thus AC-19 was the only piece in the series which was roughly the size and weight of a circulating U.S. coin. The piece illustrated here may be the only Assay Medal to have seen circulation as a U.S. coin. Henry Linderman (1825-79) was an American financier, born at Lehman, Pa. He studied medicine in New york and in 1853 removed to Philadelphia wher he practiced medicine for a short time. In 1855-64 he was chief clerk of the Mint, and its director in 1866-69. He proposed the coinage of the trade dollar, and with Knox drew up the Coinage Act of 1873. As superintendent of the Mint he wrote annual reports, of which that of 1877, arguing for the gold standard, is best known and most important. A number of exotic numismatic issues of the 1860's were likely the result of clandestine coinage by "midnight minters" on order from Linderman. These pieces included the 1804 Class III dollar, an 1865 shield nickel "Pattern" which was paired with an 1869 reverse, and 1867 "with rays" proof shield nickel. The Numismatist, November 2006, p. 56. |