President Andrew Jackson Appoints Noted Scientist Robert M. Patterson As Director of the U.S. Mint

Included is the medal honoring Patterson on his retirement, which is itself very scarce; We obtained this group from the Patterson heirs, and it has never before been offered for sale

Born to Robert Patterson, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the U.S. Mint from 1805 to 1824, Robert M. Patterson received an M.D. in 1808 and then journeyed to work in Europe. In 1811 he traveled to England and studied with the famed chemist Humphry Davy. Returning to the United States in 1812, the younger Patterson was appointed a professor of natural philosophy (science) and vice provost at the University of Pennsylvania. Patterson remained at Penn until 1828 when he joined the faculty of the University of Virginia, where he worked closely with James Madison. At the invitation of President Andrew Jackson, perhaps on Madison’s recommendation, he returned to Philadelphia to become Director of the U.S. Mint, thus following in his father’s footsteps. Patterson was also president of the American Philosophical Society. He retired as Director of the Mint in 1851. Between Patterson father and son, and excepting only 11 years, they were Directors of the U.S. Mint from 1806-1851, an unparalleled achievement.

Patterson’s post as Director of the Mint was a great national trust, the same trust as his father had received from President Jefferson. The Directorship required an incumbent from the ranks of science, one conversant with the standards and relative values of metallic money, the appropriate metals of circulating mediums, and laws of coinage. Patterson digested and consolidated a code of Mint laws that was then approved by Congress, and superintended the main Mint and its branches with admirable efficiency. By the end of his term the Mint had an annual coinage, in gold alone, of over $50 million. Patterson’s stewardship of the Mint met with universal approval.

Presidential appointments of Directors of the United States Mint are of legendary rarity. A search of public sale records going back 40 years shows only one reaching that marketplace in all that time: that of David Rittenhouse, named by President Washington. We have never had one, nor seen any others.

Document signed, Washington, January 5, 1836, being Patterson’s original appointment: “Reposing special trust and confidence in the integrity and abilities of R.M. Patterson, I have nominated, and with the advice and consent of the Senate do appoint him, Director of the Mint of the United States…” We obtained this document directly from the Patterson heirs, and it has never before been seen outside the family no less offered for sale.

When Patterson retired the Mint coined a medal in his honor. It shows a bust of Patterson, with the legend, “Robert M. Patterson, Director of the U.S. Mint, 1835-1851.” The verso illustrates a scroll and reads, “Codex Monetae,” thus memorializing his code of Mint laws, and then “A parting token of regards from the officers and clerks of the Mint, 1851.” The mint produced one gold medal for Patterson himself, one silver one for his son, and 28 bronze for friends and relatives. Included is one of the bronze medals, descended in the Patterson family, from whom we obtained it. This is Patterson’s copy.

Also included are a letter to Patterson presenting the medal, which also contains the text of the resolution to mint the medal, signed by all of the Mint officers; and Patterson’s retained copy of his response, stating “I receive with the most grateful feeling this flattering gift…I am able, at parting, to tender to you, one and all, a friendship and esteem as deserved as it is sincere.” His draft letter accepting the medal is also present.