What happened in 1816 (Besides the Volcano)

What happened in 1816 to the US coinage? It appears all that was minted were about 2.5 million pennies. I would figure after the war of 1812 the economy would be booming.

Most of the troubles were behind us then with Tecumesch (sp) and the Indian/British uprising out of the way and all. The New Madrid earthquake shook things up but didn't do much damage to the infrastructure of the nation. It seems odd.

Bone

 

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Anyone

B

 

Not a whole heck of a lot happened in 1816 in the US. There were no major economic problems or anything. About all that was going on was a presidential campaign and election pitting James Monroe against Rufus King. I would imagine that there was just lower demand for coinage and/or a lack of bullion and/or planchets at the Mint.

 

Actually, immediately after a war, there's often a small and short recession, as the economy turns from military production to civilian production. The economy will boom in that situation, just give it a few months.

And how much of an effect did the War of 1812 have on the US economy? The Royal Navy was keeping us from trading with most of Europe and its colonies anyway. Significant portions of the country (most notably the South) also opposed the war.

 

That's indeed possible as most of General Andy Jackson's Army (Battle of New Orleans) was made up of mercenaries and misfits who would swing any direction the dollar went. He just got to them before the British.

B

 

A fire at the Mint in January 1816 ended hope of any real production that year.

 

Read the Book Before You Buy the Coin

Thank you, Dave!
The story is in THE US MINT AND COINAGE by Donald Taxay. Anyone who claims to collect US coins needs a copy of this book. Not everything appears in Coin Values or Coin Prices or the Red Book.

The story also appears in other basic references owned by anyone who really is a collector of US coins.

Sorry to be pointed about this. I was really surprised that Boney asked. He definitely needs a copy of Taxay because he actually would read it.

 

How...that has been proved wrong....the fire wasn't in the part of the building that did any of the minting of coins....it didn't damage any of the machine.
I had been told the same old thing...that the fire made the mint halt minting for awhile...then after reading and searching I found other-wise...

Speedy

 

Well Mike, here is what I think happened. You gotta realize I'm just one of the uneducated mass's who collect for the fun of it. If I were to offer a hypothesis I'd say all of the silver which would have gone into coinage probably went into rebuilding the (WHITE-HOUSE) after the British burned it.

Remember, I'm just a RedBook kind of guy. Just now (past year) started branching out beyond the friendly confines of it's familiar pages.

My collection has been dormant for about 23 years and only got my first slabbed coin back in March. It (my collection) was put away partially out of disgust after having 20 silver dollars (1921 Peace, 4 Morgans, and 15 or so Seated) stolen and sold by an ex-girlfriend in 1982 (who stayed at my apt) while I was as Basic Training. I didn't unbox what was leftover until about a year ago.

A lot had changed with the hobby for sure...

Bone

 

You're right - it didn't damage any of the part of the machines used to mint. The fire destroyed the smelting (the very first building built by the new US government, by the way) and rolling buildings, without which no planchets could be prepared. No gold, no silver, no planchets, no gold and silver coinage.

The cents dated 1816 were minted in late 1815, and thus escaped the fire. As an aside, note that we bought cent planchets from Great Britain - the supply was cut off in 1812 due to the war, and stock ran out by 1814. That's why there were no 1815 cents. By the time we were able to acquire more planchets after the war, it was felt necessary to get more pennies into production as quickly as possible, so they were minted as soon as planchets from Boulton and Watt (yes, *that* James Watt - Boulton had purchased an interest in his invention and coin production was one direction he took the power of steam - perhaps that's why Boulton and Watt planchets were of high enough quality for America to be buying them instead of acquiring them from Americans) became available again.

 

I beg to differ with you Mr. mmarotta, coin collector supreme! With the advent of computers the amount of information that isn't already on the web, isn't worth knowing in the first place. I really don't care which building burned down in 1816, or why it burned. I collect coins, not sit around and read about it! Like you, I'm sorry to be so pointed about this!

 

Very sound research and reasoning Dave. My compliments on a job well done!

 

Dave...thanks alot!...that was one thing I didn't read....
I had an older collector friend that all he had ever been told was that the fire had done things to the minting part of the building and that is what he told me...when he died and I was reading on day I found a place that said that it didn't hurt the minting part of the building but that was all it said....I searched it out some but that was all I found!...thanks!

Speedy

 

For the record, I had no idea what happened in 1816 until ten minutes before my first post in this thread. OldDan, you are right again. We live in a world where you don't have to know *anything*, as long as you know where to look.

Of course, separating the wheat from the chaff requires a little skill.

 

[QUOTE=I Palindrome I. About all that was going on was a presidential campaign and election pitting James Monroe against Rufus King.

Who won that election anyway?

 

Once again, the wisdom of SuperDave's very advanced age is made evident.

 

Duh.....Rufus King .....people these days just don't know who was President and who wasn't......I'm sure the new President Dollars will help you out lots!!!!! J/K

Speedy

 

I'll look forward to that Rufus King dollar..cool

 

With books the problem is pretty much solved beforehand. So, if I want to know something, I look in the Breen Encyclopedia, Taxay, etc. -- for ancients, Civil War Tokens, etc., there are other references.

I use the web mostly to verify what I expect to know -- basic facts that I would otherwise look up in a book. Much scientific information is published electronically, now. However, with numismatics, most of what you read online came from books in the first place. No one is going to the original source documents and posting summaries with pictures on websites.

So, where did you look?
How did you frame your search?
How did you separate truth from fiction?

 

Ouch!!! That had to hurt.