By Stephen A. Crain

Most collectors of the Liberty Seated design are familiar with The United States Half Dimes by Daniel W. Valentine. Yet very little is known about the man who provided us with this enduring reference, which has resulted, at least for me, in so many years of enjoyment and learning of the series that we both love so much. It would seem a fitting tribute to present to the members of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club what little information on this modest and selfless man that I have been able to uncover after several years of research.

It was in 1980 that I first picked up a copy of The United States Half Dimes and began to read of the fascinating series that would so preoccupy my life for the next quarter century. My journey into the study of these beautiful little silver coins resulted directly from the passionate descriptions that Dr. Valentine provided, yet he was acutely aware of the limitations of his efforts in writing about the half dimes, and admonished “…it would be vain to believe that this list is complete. My hope is that it may stimulate others to ‘carry on’”. Certainly, that torch was passed on to Russell J. Logan and John W. McCloskey, who provided us with the masterful reference The Federal Half Dimes 1792 – 1837. It is my hope to provide a similar reference on the Liberty Seated half dimes as a result of my continuing research on the series.

Daniel W. Valentine was born in New York City, on March 7, 1863. Little is known of his early years, except that he was educated in public and private schools, and later received his D.D.S. from the New York College of Dentistry in 1887. After spending one year in Vienna, he practiced dentistry in New York City from 1887 to 1896, and later moved to Englewood, New Jersey, where he practiced for another thirty-five years. (more…)

Republished from The E-Gobrecht - the Electronic Publication of the Liberty Seated Collector Club

Part 1-The Hiring of Christian Gobrecht

During a recent research trip to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, my research partner, Joel Orosz, had the excellent idea to call for the Robert M. Patterson personal papers. Three letters from Samuel Moore to Robert M. Patterson dated June, 1835 were located. At this time Moore was the outgoing director of the mint; Patterson assumed the Mint directorship in July, 1835. Patterson’s father had also been the Mint director, serving from 1806 to 1824. Tying the family knot even further, the incoming director Robert M. Patterson was the brother-in-law of the outgoing director Moore.

The first letter is dated June 16, 1835 and deals with the issue of hiring Christian Gobrecht as an engraver. Moore wrote to the Secretary of the Treasurer, Levi Woodbury, on the same day regarding the same issue. The Moore/Woodbury letter is largely reprinted in Breen’s Secret History of the Gobrecht Coinages. Between the two letters, it is clear that the outgoing director Samuel Moore dearly wanted to get Gobrecht hired into the Mint, which indeed occurred later in 1835. The first Moore/Patterson letter reads as follows (the second and third letters will follow in a subsequent edition of the E-Gobrecht). (more…)