Fred Reed

If William Shakespeare had paid attention to the data (Latin for information) and opined “What’s in a Date? A Day by any other reckoning would still bring 24 hours,” he might not have become the Great Bard he is acclaimed to be today.

But what is in a 24-hour period can alter a life or millions of lives for eternity. Where were you on Sept. 11th, or the day Elvis or Diana died, or the day of the Challenger disaster, the Kennedy assassination, or VE-Day? I’m sure you remember.

Certain dates from history WERE more than most of us bargained for. What’s your most important date personally? The day you were married, graduated from high school, came back from overseas military service, or perhaps got your driver’s license?

A favorite drinking game for this author over many years has been “What’s the most important date in numismatic history?” It’s one of those unresolvable dilemmas that make for good gamesmanship. There are as many “correct” answers as there are opinions.

Was it April 2, 1792, when the Mint was created and coinage authorized?

Was it Jan. 24, 1848, when gold was discovered at Sutters Mill?

Was it August 12, 1862, when John Gault patented his metal and mica postage stamp cases for circulation as small change?

Was it May 1, 1871, when the Supreme Court ruled Greenbacks were Constitutional?

Was it Oct. 7, 1891, when American Numismatic Association was founded at a Chicago conclave?

Was it Dec. 23, 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created?

Was it Oct. 29, 1929, when the Stock Market crashed?

Was it Oct. 13, 1952, when Chet Krause launched Numismatic News?

Was it April 21, 1960, when J. Oliver Amos' Coin World debuted?

Was it August 1, 1975, when Amos Press employed Fred Reed as staff writer for Coin World?

Well, what IS the most important date for coin and paper money collectors?

After spilling many a diet Coke over this topic, I expanded my quest to determine the most important numismatic calendar day over recorded history in a cumulative fashion. I determined sometime back to put a little effort to the inspiration, and many months later emerged with a database of more than 6,000 eventful numismatic happenings to attempt to answer the allied question “What is the most important day of the year for coin and paper money collectors?” I launched my findings bimonthly as a two-page column in the Society of Paper Money Collectors' award-winning bimonthly journal, Paper Money as "On This Date in Paper Money History" in that publication's July/​August 2003 issue. That column attracted great interest and commercial sponsorship over the years by historically astute paper money dealers and auction companies R.M Smythe & Co. and Kagin's Inc.

"On this date in history" columns are not new, but perennially popular. Interest evoked by the dates column in the paper money magazine also served as a "proof of concept" for collector interest in such a column. Thus a modified version was also was attractive to the world's largest numismatic periodical, Coin World, and my weekly column "The Week That Was" appeared there from January 17, 2005-May 30, 2011, when it was succeeded by a monthly column of similar content. Over time this popular column has attracted a good deal of reader feedback and reader input. It has even attracted copycats on the internet, and the publication has had to send "cease and desist" letters to offenders. After all, plagiarism is NOT the sincerest form of flattery when it comes to intellectual property rights!

How does this all work. Let's take a day at random. In grade school I memorized Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous narrative poem "Paul Revere's Ride," which includes these lines in its famous first stanza:

". . . On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year."

Let us now remember that famous day and year, and see what else happened on April 18th through the centuries. We'll pick April 18th as a "representative" day, and see what happened numismatically on that day over the course of years. Shown is an abbreviated excerpt from the database to give you an idea how this works:

1641 New Netherlands enacts law valuing strung wampum at rate of 5 beads per stuiver
1740 English merchant banker and director of East India Company Francis Baring born
1743 Merchant ship the Princess Louisa founders on reef with 70,000 ounces of Spanish colonial coinage off Isle of May
1744 New York goldsmith Ephraim Brasher born
1775 Colonial paper money engraver and printer Paul Revere's "midnight ride"
1776 General George Washington writes Continental Congress thanking them for voting him a gold medal for occupying Boston
1786 Bank of New York emits £4 notes under authority of State Legislature
1786 New York colonial currency (FR NY221-228) bears this date
1787 James F. and Samuel Atlee become partners in Machin's Mills, a private mint operating near Newburgh, NY
1787 Thomas Machin takes five partners, forming a company to coin coppers
1835 Thomas Spring Rice becomes British Chancellor of the Exchequer
1838 New York Free Banking Act
1862 Albert Kuner-engraved dies for gold coinage sent to British Columbia Governor by British Consul in San Francisco
1863 W.E. Hilton advertises $500 in facsimile Confederate notes for $5 in Harper's Weekly
1867 W. Elliot Woodward auctions collection of Confederate currency, coins and medals
1895 Edwin Blashfield objects to BEP proposal to change his design for a $50 note to a $2 in letter to Chief Engraver G.F.C. Smillie
1896 Printing of $1 "History Instructing Youth" Series 1896 Silver Certificate (FR 224) begins at Bureau of Engraving and Printing
1900 Banknote engraver Alfred Jones dies
1902 U.S. Congressional gold medal honoree Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson born
1902 First Series 1902 $5 Red Seal National Bank Notes issued to First National Bank of Litchfield MN (Charter #6118)
1906 San Francisco Mint one of few buildings to survive earthquake and attendant fires
1918 First spouse Betty Ford, subject of current series of $10 gold coins, born
1936 M.H. Bolender auctions remainder of Martin Luther Beistle inventory
1942 LTC Jimmy Doolittle's air strike over Tokyo earns him The Congressional Medal of Honor
1944 Allies transfer to Soviet Union plates, inks, paper and specimen AMC to supply their troops for occupation
1948 Red Book author Richard S. Yeoman elected Central States Numismatic Society president
1951 Pioneer paper money collector Albert A. Grinnell dies
1962 Centreville Numismatic Association formed (incidentally, this was the present author's first coin club affiliation)
1974 Treasury Secretary Shultz's regulations prohibiting exportation, melting or treatment of cents published in Federal Register
1976 Philadelphia Mint displays Louis A. Eliasberg's complete date-Mint collection of U.S. coins
1982 Coin World columnist Col. Bill Murray tells Early American Coppers conventioneers he "collects large cents by price"
1988 Copyright for composer George Kenny's "Medallion, March for Band" renewed
1990 Hunt brothers exhibit of Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic ancients exhibited in Taipei, Taiwan
1991 Bruce Boyd et al. file for patent for protective coin holder with reflecting prismatic ring
2001 U.S. Mint announces partnership with H.E. Harris & Co. to market products retail at Barnes & Noble and other outlets
2002 Circulating coin production resumes at Philadelphia Mint after six weeks spent remedying OSHA safety concerns
2005 American Numismatic Rarities sale of Louis Eliasberg world gold coins commences
2006 Acting Mint Director David A. Lebryk's title reverts to deputy Mint director in accord with 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act
2006 Coin dealer Scott Travers spends a rare 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent in Times Square to raise awareness of "National Coin Week"
2007 Coin Galleries mail bid/​internet auction offers Great Britain George III Bank of England pattern dollar of 1798 in copper
2007 Polish Mint issues commemorative "History of the Zloty" coins with image of Nike, goddess of Victory
2008 Heritage Galleries announces $14.2 million CSNS auction, highest paper money auction total to that date
2008 IBNS presents "Banknote of the Year" award to Bank of Scotland and De La Rue for £50 Falkirk Wheel note
2009 Commission of Fine Arts reviews designs for 2010 Lincoln cent reverse and recommends stalks of wheat and "One Nation"
2009 Hans Walter talks about his World War II "Operation Bernhard" Nazi counterfeiting experiences at MPCFest X

YOU can help; how YOU can participate

So what IS the most significant calendar day in United States history numismatically? Years ago the present writer pondered that question, and over time since has developed a chronological database now exceeding 22,000 significant numismatic events to attempt to provide a cogent answer. He has been sharing his insights weekly in his Coin World column for more than five years. TWTW attempts to answer that thorny question. Check it out; join in the fun, and decide for yourself. Better yet, drop the author a line at Send Fred an email and tell him your favorite events, their date, and why they are important to you.

Entire contents Copyright © Fred Reed 2010, 2011, 2012 All Rights Reserved