Adam Eckfeldt
Adam Eckfeldt | |
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2nd Chief Coiner of the United States Mint at Philadelphia | |
In office February 15, 1814 – March 15, 1839 | |
President | |
Preceded by | Henry Voigt |
Succeeded by | Franklin Peale |
Personal details | |
Born | John Adam Eckfeldt June 15, 1769 Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, British America |
Died | February 6, 1852 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. | (aged 82)
Spouses |
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Children |
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John Adam Eckfeldt (June 15, 1769 – February 6, 1852) was a worker and official during the first years of the United States Mint. A lifelong Philadelphian, Eckfeldt served as the second chief coiner of the Mint, from 1814 until 1839.
Eckfeldt's father owned a large smithy and involved himself in early attempts at American coinage. Adam Eckfeldt built early presses for the Mint, engraved some of its early dies, and was responsible for the designs of early American copper coinage, as well as the 1792 half disme which some authorities consider the first United States coin. He was appointed assistant coiner of the Mint in 1796, and became chief coiner on his predecessor's death in 1814.
Eckfeldt served a quarter century as chief coiner, during which time the Philadelphia Mint moved to new premises. As he set aside unusual coins brought in as bullion, he started the Mint's coin cabinet, which evolved into the National Numismatic Collection. Even after his 1839 retirement, Eckfeldt continued to perform the duties of chief coiner; his death in 1852 caused his replacement, Franklin Peale, to seek an assistant.
Early life
John Adam Eckfeldt was born in Philadelphia on June 15, 1769, the son of John Jacob Eckfeldt, a large-scale manufacturer of edge-tools and implements.[1][2] At the time, it was common for those of German descent to bear the first name "John" but be referred to by middle name.[3] The elder Eckfeldt and his wife Maria Magdalena had immigrated from Nuremberg, Bavaria, around 1764.[2] John Jacob Eckfeldt, in his large smithy, made dies for the 1783 coinage under the Articles of Confederation authorized by Philadelphia financier Robert Morris. Adam was his father's apprentice, and became skilled in iron work and machinery.[4]
Coin designer and Mint official
During Eckfeldt's childhood, the
In 1792, the Mint acquired three balances from Eckfeldt, who also lent the Mint his
Eckfeldt also produced
Eckfeldt continued to work intermittently for the Philadelphia Mint; in 1793, he built a device for automatically feeding planchets into the die collar and ejecting the struck coins, and the mint's records reveal that he did
In 1805, at Boudinot's request, Eckfeldt eliminated a security problem for the Mint by renting two houses adjacent to its operations, allowing it to shut an internal alley to public access.[16] The following year, new Mint Director Robert Patterson requested a pay increase of $200 for Eckfeldt, writing to President Thomas Jefferson that Eckfeldt had "the management of the whole coining department".[4] When the dies used proved too brittle and cracked easily, Eckfeldt came up with the idea of spraying water on the face of the die so the steel would temper evenly.[15]
As a boy, inventor George Escol Sellers knew Eckfeldt; as Sellers's father was partner in a firm which sold machinery to the Mint Bureau, Eckfeldt often dined at his house. In the final years both of the 19th century and of Sellers's life, he published his memoirs, including memories of the first Philadelphia Mint. He recalled in 1812 peering through a window to see cents coined, and Eckfeldt coming into the room to stop the work at the end of the day. Seeing the young Sellers, he had the boy come in, had him place a cent planchet on the press, and struck it for him. Sellers nearly dropped it because it was so hot, and Eckfeldt reminded him it had been cold when placed in the press. Eckfeldt bade him keep the coin until he learned why the cent had become hot, and then he could spend it on candy.[17]
Chief coiner
On the death of the first chief coiner, Henry Voigt, in early 1814, Eckfeldt was appointed by President James Madison as successor. He served in that capacity for a quarter century.[1][15] During his tenure, he continued to improve the machinery at the Philadelphia Mint.[15]
Eckfeldt set aside "master coins"—coins struck with extra care using new dies and polished planchets.[18] He also put aside interesting foreign coins sent to the mint as bullion. These pieces became the Mint's Cabinet, or coin collection.[19] To fill gaps in this collection, he used old dies to strike postdated coins. Specialists have discovered that some dies he chose for this purpose had not been used together to strike coins for commerce, thus creating unique specimens.[20] Among the pieces acquired for the Mint was a Brasher doubloon, of which only six are known today.[21] Eckfeldt often spent from his own funds to acquire the coins for the Mint. The collection eventually evolved into the Smithsonian Institution's National Numismatic Collection.[22]
In 1828, Eckfeldt again became involved in the real estate transactions to expand operations at the Philadelphia Mint. For $1,000, he purchased one of the lots he had rented in 1805. After the mint moved to new premises in the 1830s, Eckfeldt discovered that the lot he had purchased had a cloud, or irregularity, on its title; he was able to clear it and sold it in 1837 for the same sum for which he had bought it.[16] The new mint building was at Juniper and Chestnut Streets, only six blocks from Eckfeldt's home at Juniper and Vine.[23]
Sellers, in his memoirs, described Eckfeldt as "a man of staunch integrity, a cautious, careful, orderly and painstaking man; he was not one of the dashing, pushing, inventive mechanics, though under his care many apparently slight improvements were gradually adopted that in the aggregate amounted to a great deal in the economy of working. He was by no means deficient in inventive ability."
In 1833, Peale was sent on a tour of European mints and came home with ideas for new machines and innovations, including the introduction of steam power, used at Britain's Royal Mint since 1810 on equipment purchased from the firm of Boulton & Watt.[1][27] Although Eckfeldt would have preferred to apply steam to the existing coin presses, a new one was built for steam power, and commemorative medals were the first pieces struck by steam at the Philadelphia Mint, in early 1836.[28]
In 1839, Eckfeldt retired after 25 years as chief coiner and over forty as a Mint employee. His fellow officers at the Mint presented him with a gold medal, with silver and bronze duplicates also struck. The obverse was designed by Philadelphia engraver
Private and family life
Eckfeldt married twice. No children were born of his brief first marriage in 1792 to Maria Hahn, which ended with her death; his second marriage to Margaretta Bausch produced six children. Among them were his daughter Susanna, who married William Ewing DuBois, first curator of the Mint's coin collection. Jacob Reese Eckfeldt, one of Adam's sons, was for forty years (1832–1872) Assayer of the United States Mint. Jacob's son Jacob Branch Eckfeldt exceeded both forebears in time of service, working at the Mint for 64 years, from 1865 to 1929.[20]
Adam Eckfeldt had a taste for
He was a man of large information on many subjects, possessed an inventive genius, and was enabled to introduce some excellent improvements in minting processes. He was singularly industrious and energetic, and for his social qualities and uprightness was universally respected, and, indeed, beloved by the officers associated with him and the extended circle of his acquaintance.[2]
References
- ^ a b c d e f Evans 1885, pp. 110–111.
- ^ a b c d Hotchkin 1897, pp. 348–349.
- ^ a b c Smith & January 1997, p. 61.
- ^ a b c d Taxay 1983, p. 102.
- ^ a b Taxay 1983, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 59.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 73.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 71.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 72.
- ^ Breen 1988, pp. 152–153.
- ^ Orosz 2012.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 76.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 104.
- ^ Taxay 1983, p. 105.
- ^ a b c d Smith & January 1997, p. 62.
- ^ a b Orosz & Augsburger, p. 49.
- ^ Orosz & Augsburger, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Evans 1885, p. 41.
- ^ Camparette & March 1906, p. 78.
- ^ a b c d Smith & January 1997, p. 63.
- ^ Breen 1988, p. 92.
- ^ Lange 2006, p. 162.
- ^ Orosz & Augsburger, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 70.
- ^ Ferguson, p. 71.
- ^ a b Ferguson, p. 76.
- ^ "The modern age". The Royal Mint Museum. Archived from the original on August 12, 2014. Retrieved September 30, 2013.
- ^ Ferguson, pp. 76–78.
- ^ a b Taxay 1983, p. 183.
- ^ Scharf & Westcott, p. 1894.
- ^ Franklin Institute, p. 282.
- ^ Lee 1984, p. 139.
Bibliography
- Breen, Walter (1988). Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 978-0-385-14207-6.
- Camparette, Louis T. (March 1906). "On the utility of a cabinet of historic coins". The Numismatist. Colorado Springs, CO: American Numismatic Association.
- Evans, George Greenlief, ed. (1885). Illustrated history of the United States Mint. Philadelphia: George G. Evans.
- Ferguson, Eugene S., ed. (1965). Early Engineering Reminiscences (1815–40) of George Escol Sellars. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. OCLC 522166.
- "On fire engines, hose, and some other apparatus manufactured and used in Philadelphia, for the purpose of extinguishing fire". The Franklin Journal and American Mechanics' Magazine. Philadelphia: The Franklin Institute. May 1827.
- Hotchkin, Samuel Fitch (1897). Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: George W. Jacobs & Co.
- Lange, David W. (2006). History of the United States Mint and its Coinage. Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-0-7948-1972-9.
- Lee, Jean Gordon (1984). Philadelphians and the China Trade, 1784–1844. Philadelphia Museum of Art.
- Orosz, Joel J. (June 2012). "The five founding fathers of the United States Mint". The Numismatist. Colorado Springs, CO: American Numismatic Association.
- Orosz, Joel J.; Augsburger, Leonard D. (2011). The Secret History of the First U.S. Mint. Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing LLC. ISBN 978-0-7948-3244-5.
- Scharf, John Thomas; Westcott, Thomas (1884). History of Philadelphia. Vol. III. Philadelphia: L.H. Everts & Co.
- Smith, Pete (January 1997). "Adam Eckfeldt struck the first U.S. coins". The Numismatist. Colorado Springs, CO: American Numismatic Association.
- Taxay, Don (1983) [1966]. The U.S. Mint and Coinage (reprint ed.). New York: Sanford J. Durst Numismatic Publications. ISBN 978-0-915262-68-7.