A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY

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The One Hundred Greatest Items Of United States Numismatic Literature Rank: Number 79

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Clain-Stefanelli 7899, Davis 339, Sigler 757

“A treatise on coins,” write the authors, “which does not present a picture of them, is but half fitted for its purposes.” Yet a decade before the numismatic boom of the 1850s, it was obvious that coin books needed to be picture books. The first chapters of this work concentrate on technical specifications of world gold and silver coinage, a subject near and dear to Eckfeldt and DuBois as assayers of the U. S. Mint. But the real fun starts in chapter six, when Joseph Saxton’s steam-powered medal ruling machine is put to work on electrotypes produced from Mint cabinet specimens, most notably an 1804 dollar. The results were remarkable for the time, especially as Saxton’s contraption automated the entire process. Sixteen plates are included in all, two with American content. Another prize is the frontispiece, an image of the second United States mint, produced using the daguerreotype, electrotype, and Saxton’s medal ruler – a trio of the latest technology. That one of the first American daguerreotypes was executed by Saxton himself, peering out of the same building, in 1839, only heightens the sense of promise of illustrative science that Eckfeldt and DuBois captured for posterity.

1^st Edition

ECKFELDT, Jacob R. & DUBOIS, William E. A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS, STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY. SHOWING THEIR HISTORY, AND LEGAL BASIS, AND THEIR ACTUAL WEIGHT, FINENESS, AND VALUE, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL AND RECENT ASSAYS. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED TREATISES ON BULLION AND PLATE, COUNTERFEIT COINS, SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF PRECIOUS METALS, ETC. WITH RECENT STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION AND COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD, AND SUNDRY USEFUL TABLES. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF COINS, EXECUTED BY THE MEDAL-RULING MACHINE, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOSEPH SAXTON OF THE UNITED STATES MINT.
Philadelphia: 1842
220pp, 16 plates, tissue guards
Quarto: 26 x 21 cm
Hardbound: Embossed brown cloth, lettered in gilt

1^st Edition, Deluxe

ECKFELDT, Jacob R. & DUBOIS, William E. A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS, STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY. SHOWING THEIR HISTORY, AND LEGAL BASIS, AND THEIR ACTUAL WEIGHT, FINENESS, AND VALUE, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL AND RECENT ASSAYS. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED TREATISES ON BULLION AND PLATE, COUNTERFEIT COINS, SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF PRECIOUS METALS, ETC. WITH RECENT STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION AND COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD, AND SUNDRY USEFUL TABLES. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF COINS, EXECUTED BY THE MEDAL-RULING MACHINE, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOSEPH SAXTON OF THE UNITED STATES MINT.
Philadelphia: 1842
220pp, 16 plates, tissue guards
Quarto: 26 x 22 cm
Hardbound: Full brown morocco, intricately decorated in gilt, lettered in gilt, all edges gilt

2^nd Edition

ECKFELDT, Jacob R. & DUBOIS, William E. A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS, STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY. SHOWING THEIR HISTORY, AND LEGAL BASIS, AND THEIR ACTUAL WEIGHT, FINENESS, AND VALUE, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL AND RECENT ASSAYS. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED TREATISES ON BULLION AND PLATE, COUNTERFEIT COINS, SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF PRECIOUS METALS, ETC. WITH RECENT STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION AND COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD, AND SUNDRY USEFUL TABLES. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF COINS, EXECUTED BY THE MEDAL-RULING MACHINE, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOSEPH SAXTON OF THE UNITED STATES MINT.
Philadelphia: 1849
220, (221)-240pp, 16 plates, tissue guards, gold sample (p235 of supplement)
Quarto: 26.5 x 21 cm
Hardbound: Green (or brown) half morocco, lettered in gilt, also seen in black half roan

2^nd Edition, Deluxe

ECKFELDT, Jacob R. & DUBOIS, William E. A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS, STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY. SHOWING THEIR HISTORY, AND LEGAL BASIS, AND THEIR ACTUAL WEIGHT, FINENESS, AND VALUE, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL AND RECENT ASSAYS. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED TREATISES ON BULLION AND PLATE, COUNTERFEIT COINS, SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF PRECIOUS METALS, ETC. WITH RECENT STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION AND COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD, AND SUNDRY USEFUL TABLES. ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS OF COINS, EXECUTED BY THE MEDAL-RULING MACHINE, AND UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOSEPH SAXTON OF THE UNITED STATES MINT.
Philadelphia: 1849
220, (221)-240pp, 16 plates, tissue guards, gold sample (p235 of supplement)
Quarto: 26.5 x 21 cm
Hardbound: Full purple morocco, intricately decorated in gilt, lettered in gilt, all edges gilt

Bound 1850 by Pawson & Nicholson.^[1]

3^rd Edition

ECKFELDT, Jacob R. & DUBOIS, William E. A MANUAL OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS OF ALL NATIONS, STRUCK WITHIN THE PAST CENTURY. SHOWING THEIR HISTORY, AND LEGAL BASIS, AND THEIR ACTUAL WEIGHT, FINENESS, AND VALUE, CHIEFLY FROM ORIGINAL AND RECENT ASSAYS. WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED TREATISES ON BULLION AND PLATE, COUNTERFEIT COINS, SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF PRECIOUS METALS, ETC. WITH RECENT STATISTICS OF THE PRODUCTION AND COINAGE OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE WORLD, AND SUNDRY USEFUL TABLES… WITH ENGRAVINGS OF COINS, BY SAXTON’S MEDAL-RULING MACHINE, TO WHICH IS ADDED A SUPPLEMENT TO 1850, AND CORRECTIONS TO JUNE 1851.
Philadelphia: 1851
220, (221)-240, (241)-242pp, 16 plates, tissue guards, gold sample not included on p235
Quarto: 28 x 22 cm
Hardbound: Green (or brown) half morocco, lettered in gilt, also seen in black half roan

Edition was printed with plates and as they ran out editions typically found with fewer than 16 plates, sometimes with none at all. Only one example, in the Champa library, was the first one to be seen with the gold sample.^[2]

References

1. ↑ Auctions By Bowers and Merena, Inc. The Armand Champa Library, Part One November 17, 1994, Lot 214.
2. ↑ Auctions By Bowers and Merena, Inc. The Armand Champa Library, Part Three September 10, 1995, Lot 2243.