When I edited The Mich-Matist, I
published a "Wanted" poster offering silver dollars in reward to anyone who could
round up Joel Orosz of Kalamazoo and bring him in for membership. I got no
takers. This accomplished numismatist continues to elude us. But we
know where to find him. This is his latest work, co-authored with Leonard
Augsburger; and published by Whitman for 2011. At $24.95, the book is a
steal
This is the first comprehensive history of the early US Mint, since Don Taxay's book forty years ago. But more than that, this is the back story. Revelations about the first US Mint being as they may, the revealed secret here is the life of Frank H. Stewart.
Be forewarned that the compelling drama plays out under a dense canopy of facts... and facts about facts... "Yes, the story of Frank H. Stewart and the first U.S. Mint contains contradictions by the carload, with plot twists so melodramatic that a Hollywood screen writer would have blushed to create them. Yet, implausible as it is, every one of these thing happened. A poor boy made good, bought the Mint, labored to preserve it, failed, demolished it, but in the process gathered a significant coin collection, wrote an indispensible history, and commissioned enduringly influential art works." (page xi)
Whitman itself is more effusive in its press release: "Frank H. Stewart is both the hero and the villain in this remarkable tale ripped from the headlines of early 20th-century Philadelphia." However, Orosz and Augsburger caution at the start: "It may not be 'the greatest story ever told' in American numismatics..." But, then again, it may. We numismatists live for the details that are revealed with a lens. We twirl coins in a special way to see telltale cartwheels of luster. A paper dollar is a only a convenient 100 cents unless the plate number is in the wrong position. So, too, with this book, is close reading and careful understanding the key to profiting from the story. Understand that Stewart himself had to uncover facts that were lost to time. We follow him in his quest.
Whether or not the story is "ripped from the headlines" this is not a police procedural. It is not a linear catalog with facts gathered along a trail of evidence. This story is layered. There is the Mint, of course. There is Stewart, also. Known as Frank H. Stewart, he was born Frank Steward; the middle name Huling[s] came to him in a flash of inspiration when he graduated from business school -- and faded just as quickly. Two years later, May 15, 1892, he went into the electrical supply business, where after a rough start, he earned a fortune. When his business expanded, the old Mint building was available.
Washington Inspecting the First Coins by Henry Hintermeister,
the last in a series of works based on works commissioned
by Frank H. Stewart and executed by John Ward Dunsmore.