Lammont duPont (sometimes spelled Lammot) was born near Wilmington, Delaware on October 12, 1880 and died on July 24, 1952. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1901 and joined the family firm in 1902. He was married several times and had a total of 10 children. He was president of E.I. duPont de Nemours & Co. from 1926 to 1940 and chairman of the board from 1940 to 1948.

Robert Coulton Davis was born in Philadelphia circa 1813 and died on August 25, 1888. He was a pharmacist who was employed by Charles Ellis and was later in business for himself. His collections included signers of the Declaration of Independence, in addition to his coin collection. Davis wrote a serial on Pattern coins published in the Coin Collector’s Journal. He held membership in the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia as well as the American Philosophical Society.

Virgil Brand lived from January 16, 1862 until June 20, 1926. His entire life was spent in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois. He was employed in the brewery business of his father, the Michael Brand & Company Brewery. He worked into the office of President of the United States Brewing Company and opened his own Brand Brewing Company in 1899. Ten years earlier, he began his coin collecting activities. If numbers of coins is the criteria, Brand formed one of the most extensive collections in this country, numbering approximately 350,000 pieces. After his death, settlement of the Brand Estate took considerable time. In fact, one commentary suggests that an attorney passed the bar, went to work on the Brand Estate, and retired before it was completely settled.

Frederick C.C. Boyd was born in New York City on April 10, 1886 and died on September 7, 1958. He is visible to the numismatic world today through the sales of the John J. Ford Collection, the latter having acquired many numismatic items from Boyd. His employment was as an advertising manager of the American Tobacco Company in New York, later managing the Union News Company. During the 1930s, Boyd served as a board member of the National Recovery Administration, and later as a board member of the Office of Price Administration during the second World War. His numismatic interests were far reaching, from colonials to odd and curious, as well as political ribbons. In 1945 and 1946, Abe Kosoff and his Numismatic Gallery sold portions of the Boyd Collection under the non de plume “World’s Greatest Collection.”

John Daggett served as the Superintendent of the San Francisco Mint from July 31, 1893 until July 31, 1897. Daggett had a long and eventful life. He was born on May 9, 1833 and lived until August 30, 1919, when he died at the age of 86 years. John and his brother, David, headed to California in 1852, although David decided to return home soon after, when he became ill. He died on the voyage home.

John remained in California, and served as the postmaster of the small town of Sawyer’s Bar. Soon after, in January 1859 he became involved in politics and attended a state legislature meeting. He spent the Civil War years in Nevada, returning to his northern California home in 1865. For the next seven years, John and his business partners operated a successful mine, selling it in 1872. John bought the mine back in 1895.

He was married to Alice Foree in 1870, and they had three surviving children (three others died in childhood): Ben Foree Daggett, Hallie Morse Daggett, and Leslie Wells Daggett. John Daggett continued in politics and spent 11 sessions in the state legislature before being elected Lieutenant Governor of California, serving this role from 1882 to 1888, a period when he lived in Los Angeles. During this time, he founded the town of Daggett, California, northeast of Los Angeles. Among his other activities, he was chosen as a representative of California to the World’s Columbian Exposition.