An early Max Mehl letter - Updated Information 0

[RWB]

Here's an early Max Mehl letter requesting one Lafayette silver dollar.

Edited January 14, 2020 by RWB

[MarkFeld]

Cool, thanks for posting. He would have been 15 at that time.

[Star City Homer]

1 hour ago, MarkFeld said:

Cool, thanks for posting. He would have been 15 at that time.

15...and the penmanship!  I think we have an entire generation afflicted by dysgraphia.  Edited to add:  just to be clear, I am an honorary member of that generation, but my kids' handwriting, geez.  High school and it looks like a third grader.  And it's normal.

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by Star City Homer

[MarkFeld]

19 minutes ago, Star City Homer said:

15...and the penmanship!  I think we have an entire generation afflicted by dysgraphia.  Edited to add:  just to be clear, I am an honorary member of that generation, but my kids' handwriting, geez.  High school and it looks like a third grader.  And it's normal.

 

Sometimes, I wish mine looked as good as a third grader’s.😬

[Just Bob]

What an interesting find. Thanks for sharing it.

For new collectors who are not familiar with the name B. Max Mehl: he was instrumental in spreading the hobby of coin collecting, once considered the "Hobby of Kings," to the common man, in the early 20th century. His catalogues, distributed by mail, were tools which taught people that coins could be worth more than their face value (and, he was not just talking about error coins).

I found one of his catalogues in a pile of books at a flea market years ago. I still take it out and look at it every now and then.

[DWLange]

The reply is not posted and is probably lost, but he wouldn't have received a specimen for just face value plus postage. These coins were sold at a premium to raise funds for the statue depicted.

Interestingly, the unsold remainders were stashed inside a mint vault and not destroyed until 1945. No one in the numismatic community knew that until after the coins were lost. In the 1940s Mehl was perhaps the most successful dealer in the nation and certainly would have made the mint an offer on the entire lot for his many customers!

[Lastufka Collection]

Very cool to see this. Think the Mint will accept a $50 bill and some stamps for a 2020 Gold Buffalo?

[RWB]

I suspect that Mehl's order was completed and he received a coin. Notice the handwritten notation "fill" below the abstract (at right). A similar notation exists on several other requests for Lafayette dollars. But a few say "return" or "forward." I've not been able to discern any pattern to filling or rejecting orders.

There are other letters about Lafayette dollars in this and other E-229 boxes including discussion of the coin sent to President McKinley and the President's letter of thanks.

[kbbpll]

I've been looking through this stuff too (for other reasons), and I honestly thought some of these requests for coins said "file" instead of "fill". There's one here https://archive.org/details/rg104entry229box106/page/n259 where the lady is asking where she can get a gold dollar but there's no indication that she sent any money for one. Does it say "fill" or "file"? Well, some of this old stuff is fascinating, and cool that a 15 year old Mehl is in there.

[RWB]

That's correct. Some say "file," others say "fill," and many have no notation at all. My thought is that the words are usually clearly written; further when money and stamps were included there had to be some sort of disposition. In attempting to match incoming with outgoing letters, it appears that nearly everyone received a reply of one sort or another. There is also a separate set of documents at Philadelphia relating to itemization of registered mail receipts.

Note: I have seen a few COD payment requests that were honored, but these (so far) are entirely from Senior Treasury Officers.

[Conder101]

14 hours ago, Just Bob said:

His catalogues, distributed by mail, were tools which taught people that coins could be worth more than their face value (and, he was not just talking about error coins).

True, but remember the prices in the catalogs were his BUYING prices from people who had no knowledge of numismatics, they do not necessarily reflect what the real current values were at the time..

[RWB]

The public fascination was being able to pick through pocket change or small business cash and find coins for which Mehl would pay a premium. David W. Lange's books about coin boards, folders, etc. are excellent sources of information showing how the promotions of Mehl and others fostered growth of both middle class hobby and business.

A look at Mehl's published selling prices indicate that he had the old maxim "Buy low, sell high" well under control.

Edited January 1, 2020 by RWB

[kbbpll]

Interesting that Mehl's request was marked "fill", and this one was returned with instructions to request it from the commission in Chicago.

[RWB]

Mehl's cash vs the bank's check ? ...or, maybe Mr. Lange's suggestion is correct and they were mostly "filed" not "filled?" Maybe Mehl's personal papers (if they exist) offer an insight....or a hindsight....or blind-sight...or sightseeing....?

[grip]

Great topic, wish there was more to read.

[RWB]

More items from prominent old-time collectors and dealers will certainly pop up. Stickney, Jenks, Cohen, Chapman, on and on were correspondents of the US Mint and buyers of its products.

[Conder101]

I just did a transcription of a request from Jenks about a week ago.  Don't remember off the top of my head what he was requesting though.

[Crawtomatic]

I still consider myself new to numismatics so I hadn't come across the history of Max Mehl yet.  Noticed his building is still standing in Fort Worth so I'll add it to my day trip itinerary.

[RWB]

On 1/5/2020 at 10:56 AM, Conder101 said:

I just did a transcription of a request from Jenks about a week ago.  Don't remember off the top of my head what he was requesting though.

Jenks provided background information about Newlin's 1815 $5 which was being offered to the Mint Cabinet of Coins. The purchase was approved.

[leeg]

Very nice discussion.

 

[RWB]

After going through many of the letters sent to correspondents by the Mint Director in 1900 I have not found the reply to Max Mehl. However, nearly all responses to requests for Lafayette dollars follow the form of this letter to a member of Congress. The implication is that Mr. Lange, in his comment on this thread, was correct and my presumption was wrong. Also, the manuscript word is thus, more likely "file" rather than "fill."   

Edited January 14, 2020 by RWB

[kbbpll]

Lots of cool stuff in there regarding the Lafayette dollar, as you know. The very first one...

... and Barber going, wait, what? You're shipping my dies to Paris? Are you nuts?

 

[RWB]

"John Hay" was the private secretary to President Lincoln. When Roosevelt took office after McKinley's assassination, Hay presented the new President with a gold fob containing a lock of Lincoln's hair.

The "other side" of many 1900 letters will be found in E-235 Vol 311. This should be on NNP in a day or two.

[StrikeOutXXX]

Here is Mehl's reply - his $1.00 plus fourteen cents in postage was returned to him and given instructions to send $2 to the appropriate place.

 

 

Edited January 19, 2020 by StrikeOutXXX
Added close-up

[Just Bob]

And now, we know the rest of the story.

Or, do we?

Did Mehl reorder from the Commission, or did he give up trying?

[RWB]

Nice find.

Yeah, I know -- I was the one who photographed the page, but after a little while the eyes get blurry and all you want to do is get every page copied, then grab lunch.