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Shipping dies was expensive in the early 19th century.

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Shipping dies to New Orleans was expensive in the 1840s. The Post Office charged regular letter mail rates, and express companies were even more expensive. The solution of Mint Directors was to send boxes of dies to the Secretary of Treasury, who would then resend them under his postal frank at no cost. Sometimes, as with this letter, it was possible to send the dies along with a trusted mint employee, who could also report on local conditions.

Charlotte and Dahlonega were cheaper to access because of coastal packet ships.

Mint of the United States
Philadelphia
October 30, 1847

Hon. R[obert] J. Walker,
Secretary of the Treasury

Sir:
The dies prepared for the Branch Mints have always, heretofore, been sent to them by mail; and as they are charged letter postage the expense to the New Orleans Mint is very considerable. We have now ready, for transportation to that Mint, 54 pairs of dies, on which the postage, according to a careful estimate which I have made, would amount to $390.00.

It would be a more economical, and probably a more secure course, to employ a special messenger to take charge of this conveyance; and the foreman of the machine shop of this Mint, Mr. George Eckfeldt, has offered to undertake this duty, for the mere expense of his journey, which, it is estimated, would not exceed $120, to be paid by the Branch Mint.

I respectfully ask your consent to this measure.

Your very faithful servant,
R.M. Patterson,
Director

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2 hours ago, RWB said:

Shipping dies to New Orleans was expensive in the 1840s. The Post Office charged regular letter mail rates, and express companies were even more expensive. The solution of Mint Directors was to send boxes of dies to the Secretary of Treasury, who would then resend them under his postal frank at no cost. Sometimes, as with this letter, it was possible to send the dies along with a trusted mint employee, who could also report on local conditions.

Charlotte and Dahlonega were cheaper to access because of coastal packet ships.

Mint of the United States
Philadelphia
October 30, 1847

Hon. R[obert] J. Walker,
Secretary of the Treasury

Sir:
The dies prepared for the Branch Mints have always, heretofore, been sent to them by mail; and as they are charged letter postage the expense to the New Orleans Mint is very considerable. We have now ready, for transportation to that Mint, 54 pairs of dies, on which the postage, according to a careful estimate which I have made, would amount to $390.00.

It would be a more economical, and probably a more secure course, to employ a special messenger to take charge of this conveyance; and the foreman of the machine shop of this Mint, Mr. George Eckfeldt, has offered to undertake this duty, for the mere expense of his journey, which, it is estimated, would not exceed $120, to be paid by the Branch Mint.

I respectfully ask your consent to this measure.

Your very faithful servant,
R.M. Patterson,
Director

Fiddling around on the internet, came up with something like a 2018 shipping cost of $10-$12k equivalent to $390 in 1847. Moving things and people around was expensive business. Very interesting letter, thanks for posing.

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So, 54 dies would weigh what, 400 lbs you'd probably need at least 8-10 crates to be able to move them, $390 was extremely high for that period of time ($39 per crate) so I'm glad they were at least concerned about expenses. 

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On 4/19/2018 at 4:59 PM, RWB said:

Closer to 800 pounds.

If each die weighs ~7.5 pounds, they might be shipped today via USPS flat rate program. I imagine you could fit 3-4 die pairs, 6 to 8 dies, at a weight of about 45 to 60 pounds, in a large flat rate box (I'm just theorizing, here; I don't have any idea if this is practicable, or even possible.)

That would cost $18.90 full retail, though doubtless that could and would be negotiated down, meaning you could send all 54 die pairs...theoretically....in 14 to 18 large flat rate boxes, at a cost of $246.60 to $340.20, plus, perhaps, registration at $11.90 per box, which would put the total at $431.20 to $554.40, for the safest method of transportation the USPS provides...far cheaper adjusted for inflation.

Yay capitalism! 

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My interest in this article was piqued by the auction of a ms-62 1846-O Seated Dollar at Heritage.  This is a coin that I've always liked as the 1st branch mint dollar and better date Seated Dollars are challenging to collect in business strike (non-proof) mint state.  I'm wondering if making these dollars is what is alluded to in the OP article?  New Orleans minor silver was made since 1838 but the dollars were new in 1846.  Also their dies would be a lot heavier than those for half dimes.  Maybe that's why they weren't struck again till 1850?

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New Orleans had a demand vs expectation problem for it's first decade or so. City merchants and the small, isolated southern economy wanted half dimes and dimes for use a profitable replacements for Spanish bits. Mint HQ in Philadelphia wanted the new mint to make more half dollars and dollars to show impressive coinage values and satisfy bullion brokers importing from Mexico. This created a struggle between mercantile factions in the western south and put the New Orleans Mint in the middle.

The dies mentioned in the letter were probably a mixture of small silver and gold denominations, but not the dollar. Dollars were usually made only at depositor request and then used for export trade.

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I suppose these dies would have been shipped by water rather than by land. There was no rail service yet and it would have been a bumpy ride by carriage or cart.

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On 4/25/2018 at 9:50 AM, Gallienus1 said:

Also their dies would be a lot heavier than those for half dimes.

I'm sure dollar dies would be heavier than half dime dies, but I don't think the difference would be that great. Most of the weight of the die is in the shank and shoulder, and that, I would think, would be fairly consistent on both. The major difference being the actual neck of the design portion of the die.

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