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valley. Walking inside, the hospitality was instant

and the decorations were a bit unusual – big old

mechanical musical instruments. I wandered

over to one, attracted instantly by the fact that it

was deemed cool enough to have an explanatory

plaque, and learned that it was a Seeburg “Style

H” Solo Orchestrion. And it had a Dave Bowers

pedigree. I go all the way to Arkansas and still can’t

escape Dave Bowers! As it turns out, the Crescent

Hotel is owned by Dave’s longtime friends Marty

and Elise Roenigk, both of whom I got to meet that

evening in the hotel bar. Fine folks, the Roenigks, and

interested enough in coins to be curious about the Gal-

lery Mint Museum. It was a delight to meet them.

The next morning I got to see the Gallery Mint—

the actual production area—for the first time. Some

of America’s best known companies were born in

garages, from Apple Computer to Ford Motor Com-

pany (Henry Ford famously had to knock a portion

of the wall down to get his first car out after he built

it). The Gallery Mint, while stretched out over two

buildings down a back country road, had the initial

feel of a garage operation. Walking in was a numis-

matic dream come true: a screw press, then two, and

yet another; a box full of dies showing colonial and

early federal designs; a library shelf laden with books

on coins and art; a working Castaing machine (also

called an edge mill); a box on the wall containing a

pistol and a noose with a label reading “in case of die

clash, break glass.” These guys were serious!

The operation was instantly impressive, and those

of us gathered were treated to a tour and a demon-

stration of most of the equipment. Ron Landis, Tim

Grat, and Mike Ellis form the center of the Mint staff

at present, as we tragically lost Joe Rust this past sum-

mer. All three are fully committed to Joe’s memory

and the dream of building a museum. After all, it was

Joe who built the Castaing machine, Joe who devised

a working feeder-finger mechanism from scratch, Joe

who managed to build a four-part collar with his bare

hands, and Joe who refurbished the first U.S. steam

press that is now on display at the ANA Headquarters

in Colorado Springs. Talent like that deserves to be

remembered (to say nothing of his musical skills and

many other abilities).

The rest of the time was spent in meetings, devis-

ing a strategy for raising funds to build a museum to

show the whole history of minting innovation from

the hammer and anvil to modern times. There is a lot

of work to be done to achieve that goal, but a location

in an artist’s colony with a large tourist draw and a

passionate and giving staff is a good start. Former

ANA curator Larry Lee has offered valuable advice on

building a collection and a museum from the ground

up, and the other curators on the board (represent-

ing the Smithsonian, Colonial Williamsburg, and the

Louisiana State Museum) have also offered counsel.

The mission of the museum is to preserve the numis-

matic arts and related disciplines, with a view to be a

top research facility, a living history museum, and a

workshop for those who can carry these nearly lost

arts into the future. It would be a shame if hand-en-

graving and custom minting went the way of pyramid

building. Further, the ability of the Gallery Mint to

answer numismatic puzzles is unparalleled—they

have already reverse engineered a number of projects

that have unraveled enigmas about minting practices

of the past, and they learn more all the time.

The Gallery Mint Foundation will be seeking

support from the numismatic community to achieve

its goals. A website is being constructed at www.

gallerymintfoundation.org and donations are tax

deductible. Serious numismatists will see the value

in a museum such as this, dedicated exclusively to

minting technology and sure to draw students from

around the world. And, if nothing else, it gives us all

an excuse to visit one of the pretty parts of America

that otherwise you might not get to.

For more information about the Gallery Mint Museum

Foundation, feel free to contact me at johnk@anrcoins.

com or stay tuned to the numismatic press.

Ron Landis of the

Gallery Mint in his

engraving office,

surrounded by the

tools of the trade.

A wide variety

of punches and

gravers are used by

hand-engravers to

produce dies from

raw steel.