The famous New Orleans Mint building
managed to survive Hurricane Katrina, but not without incident.
The
Louisiana State Museum, which now operates the facility, has a big
challenge overseeing repairs and getting its doors open to the public once again.
This page documents the activities of the New Orleans Mint today, in the
post-Katrina age, describing the earliest days following the disaster,
preservation of the artifacts, damage
assessment, the rebuilding effort, and plans for expanded exhibits
dedicated to the history of Louisiana and its numismatic legacy.
Click on any chapter below to begin reading about the New Orleans Mint today.
Several photos are included to enhance your learning experience.
For coin collectors who share an interest in history, we have an entire
section devoted to the
storied past of the New Orleans Mint. Beginning
with its creation in the 1830's, the story of one of America's most unique
institutions is recounted in easy narrative form.
The eye of Hurricane Katrina making landfall,
August 29, 2005, packing winds of 125 mph. Katrina claimed more than 1400
lives, and caused at least $75 billion in damage. Image courtesy of
NASA-Goddard
Space Flight Center, data from NOAA GOES.
Nearly everyone remembers August 29, 2005,
the day Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast states of Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama. In its passing, Katrina inflicted catastrophic destruction, flooding, and death. For many days, news
headlines documented the storm's fury and the human misery it caused.
Katrina
killed more than 1400 people, becoming the deadliest natural disaster to hit the
United States since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. Overall, Katrina
wreaked incredible havoc over a wide area, causing at least $75 billion in
property damages, the costliest U.S. hurricane ever.
Levees protecting the city of
New Orleans from the waters of Lake Ponchartrain were breached by the surge,
ultimately flooding about 80% of the city. Heavy damage to the surrounding
infrastructure hampered efforts to provide relief to many thousands of residents
trapped inside the city.
As the Katrina drama seared the conscience of a concerned nation, a number of
subplots unfolded with scant attention. The historic New Orleans Mint, a
fixture in the French Quarter skyline since the 1830's, quietly became the scene
of a race against time -- a challenge to preserve rare coins and other
irreplaceable museum artifacts against the elements of nature, as well as from the
dark side of human behavior. For an uneasy period of time, the eventual
victor in this contest was anything but assured.
Aerial view from a U.S. Navy helicopter, showing
the rising flood waters threatening the entire downtown New Orleans city center,
including the Superdome. Image courtesy
US Navy
As Katrina churned in the
Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana State Museum staff moved artifacts to the second
floor of the New Orleans Mint
building, as is their policy at all historic sites when a hurricane approaches. The
doors were
locked and all evacuated.
The storm struck on Monday morning,
August 29, but it wasn't until Wednesday that the staff reached the Mint,
guarded by a museum police escort. Much to their
relief, no one had attempted to break into the unattended building, leaving
intact the valuable artifacts inside, which included rare coins of the New
Orleans Mint and Louis Armstrong's coronet.
The most obvious harm
inflicted upon the building by the hurricane was to the copper
roof; a sizeable portion of cladding, installed during renovations in 1978, was destroyed by the storm's powerful winds.
Water poured in, causing damage to the auditorium and hallways below, but
generally
did not reach areas in the building where museum artifacts were exhibited or
stored.
Structural damage to the New Orleans Mint
building was largely restricted to a sizeable portion of the copper roof. Image courtesy of
Louisiana State Museum.
The one exception is that a holding area for a small percentage of
the jazz collection was affected. A number of books, scrapbooks,
photographs, LPs, and files were exposed to moisture. Moving quickly, these
items were stabilized before further damage occurred from mold and other
resulting problems, and transported to Baton Rouge where additional conservation
techniques were applied.
The situation could have been much worse; all
damage, both structurally and to the contents inside, is restorable. The
museum staff deserves credit for quick and proper action, but mostly we have Lady Luck to
thank for the continued existence of the old Mint building and the treasures it
sheltered.
Roof at old New Orleans Mint building
undergoing repairs. The roof job was completed in 2006, but the overall
restoration of the the stately
facility required more than two years to implement. Image courtesy of
Louisiana State Museum.
Major
repairs to the copper roof were necessary and are now completed. It took
more than two years to finish all the renovations, which in addition to the
roof, included water damage restoration and a new heating and air conditioning
system. Areas of the building that were in need of attention
prior to the hurricane were also be addressed during the restoration process.
Fortunately, for the most part, the historic structure remained intact and a
full recovery has taken place. The building is scheduled to reopen to the
public on October 19, 2007.
The early phases of the repair operation necessitated the temporary removal of
all collections to an offsite storage location. Now that the remediation of
the water-damaged interior is virtually complete, all museum pieces have
returned, to join newly donated and loaned items. The result will be an
expanded version of the New Orleans Mint history exhibit. Some truly
exciting programs are in the works, and these are discussed in the section
directly below.
Pictured here is a sampling of the pre-Katrina
coining museum at the old New Orleans Mint. A coin press from long ago is
seen at end of hallway. When the building re-opens, this and other
collections will be expanded and improved. Image courtesy of
Louisiana State Museum.
A number of impressive
coinage exhibits are scheduled for public viewing, which began October 19, 2007.
The Gold and Silver Coinage of the New Orleans Mint display includes coins
produced at the facility since its opening in 1838, through the year 1909, when
minting operations were discontinued.
Included in the exhibit are
relics associated with Mint coiners, placed next to documents relating to the
daily operations of the coining department.
A small coin press thought to
have been sold by the Mint and later owned by the Mardi Gras doubloon maker
Alvin Sharp is on display.
The amazing "Eureka Bar" is also available for
viewing. This is the heaviest known gold bar from the days of the California Gold Rush.
It is made of .903 fine gold, weighing 933.94 ounces (about 80 lbs). It
was valued at $17,433.57 at the time of its creation. The Eureka Bar was
lost in the 1857 shipwreck of the S.S. Central America, about 160 miles off the
coast of Charleston, SC. The lost ship was discovered in 1987. A
collector subsequently paid $8 million for the Eureka Bar.
That is not all. There
is a
section devoted to counterfeit coins. An 1857 counterfeiting device once
used to produce phony half dollars is the centerpiece of the forgery section.
Also, Dr. John McCloskey, editor of the Gobrecht Journal, has provided a
complete index of coins struck by the New Orleans Mint.
In addition, the
Louisiana State Museum negotiated with the Federal Reserve Bank of
Atlanta regarding a loan of 75 gold and silver coins from their large
collection. Rick Demers, a coin collector from the New Orleans area, has
loaned the museum his complete date collection of New Orleans Mint silver
coinage. Aside from that, the marquee coin attraction is an 1861-O proof half dollar,
the only currently traceable specimen of its kind.
More on this later.
The SS Republic, from an 1860 painting
(the ship was then named the SS Tennessee). The 264--ft steamer was
in route from New York to New Orleans with a rich cargo intended to aid in the
reconstruction of the South. The ship never reached New Orleans, sinking
off the coast of Georgia during a hurricane. Now, more than 140 years
later, some of the coinage that went down with the ship may finally reach its
destination. Public domain image.
The
Louisiana State Museum is hoping to secure, through donations, a number of gold
coins and other artifacts recovered from the S.S. Republic wreck site.
The S.S. Republic was a paddlewheel steamship which sank during a
hurricane off the coast of Georgia in October, 1865.
The ship was en route to
New Orleans from New York with a payload of coins valued at $400,000 face value, intended to
aid reconstruction of the South following the Civil War. The wreck was
discovered in August, 2003, and the coins brought to the surface are worth well
in excess of 100 million dollars. Many of the long-lost coins are in
remarkably good condition, and a few of them may just end up in New Orleans
after all, more than 140 years behind schedule.
In addition to all this the old
Mint will be hosting a major traveling exhibit on gold from the American Museum
of Natural History. The exhibit features the properties and origins of
gold and "its role as a driver of human settlement and a symbol of status", the
AMNH reports.
Strategies for expanding
the non-numismatic aspects of the museum are being developed, too. Look
for new additions to the Louisiana music holdings.
To help with the installation and acquisition of exhibits
related to the New Orleans Mint, the "Friends of the New Orleans Mint Fund" was
organized to accept donations from individuals and corporations who are
interested in participating. Anyone wishing to make a contribution may do
so by sending it to:
Susan Maclay Executive Director Louisiana
Museum Foundation 828 Royal Street, #525 New Orleans, LA 70116
(504-568-6968)
The New Orleans Mint building is greatly revered
by all who understand its significance. That is why so much effort has
been devoted to its full restoration since Katrina struck. Beginning
October 19, we can look forward to a new look for an old friend.
Close up view of the only known 1861-O proof half
dollar. Three to five other specimens are believed to exist, but their
whereabouts are uncertain. This rare specimen is on loan at the New
Orleans Mint through the year 2011. Image courtesy of
Louisiana State Museum.
A tiny number, perhaps four to six,
of 1861-O half dollars are characterized by exceptional strikes and proof-like
luster, so much so that these pieces have been deemed as proofs.
There are
no official records documenting the production of proof specimens at New Orleans
in 1861, so no one can verify if these examples were purposefully manufactured as proofs, and if
so, by whose authority they were struck.
Some historians allow for the
possibility that it was indeed the southern rebels who were responsible for the
existence of the 1861-O proof half dollars. On February 28, 1861, a
takeover ceremony was held at the New Orleans Mint, when the employees there
swore a loyalty oath to the Confederacy.
One theory holds that at this ceremony,
the proof half dollars were presented as a symbolic show of defiance against the
U.S. government, and a smack in the face of Abraham Lincoln, who was to become
president in four days.
Of the exceedingly rare
1861-O proofs, numismatists know of the whereabouts of only one example, and it is on
display at the exact location where it was made, the New Orleans Mint. The
coin once belonged to the famous collection of the DuPont
family, but it is now owned by Robert LeNeve of Boynton Beach, Florida, who has
loaned it to the Louisiana State Museum for all to marvel at. The half
dollar was graded by ANACS as a Proof-60 grade, having deep reflective mirror
surfaces on both obverse and reverse sides, accentuated by attractive blue and
gold toning.
The LeNeve half dollar remained in the Mint building at the time
everyone evacuated in advance of Katrina, as were all displays.
Thankfully, no harm came to this Civil War relic.
The coin will remain on display at its place of origin until
April 30, 2011, the 150th anniversary of the date when the Confederacy shut down
the New Orleans Mint. In the summer of 2011 it will be auctioned off at
the American Numismatic Association show.
Mark your calendar now, and perhaps you can be on hand to place the winning
bid!
