With the recent uproar over the supposed "godless" Presidential dollars, created when the "In God We Trust" motto failed to be placed on the edge of a few of the new Washington dollars, it might be good to look back to an earlier time, when the purposeful removal of the religious motto (first used in 1864 on the two-cent piece) led to an outcry and action by Congress.

Most collectors are aware of President Theodore Roosevelt's role in the nation's coinage redesign in the early 20th century. They're also aware that he thought the placement of the "In God We Trust" religious motto on U.S. coins was an irreverence to the deity that came "dangerously close to a sacrilege."

What is lesser known is that he was influenced in his feelings by the Free Silver Movement.

The Free Silver Movement, which has been a favorite study area of mine for many years, came to its pinnacle in 1896, when William Jennings Bryan battled the forces of "sound money" (i.e., gold), led by William McKinley, for the presidency of the United States. Free silverites believed fervently in the need to restore full and unlimited coinage of silver at a 16-to-1 ratio as a means of encouraging economic recovery. It would also, they argued, cause silver to rise in value, allowing the bullion value of the silver dollar to again match its face value and restore the nation's ailing bimetallic coinage system.

One of the interesting side collecting fields that developed from this was a series of pieces known to collectors today as Bryan Money. Most of these pieces mocked Bryan and his cause.

Some were made of silver, but many were of base metal.

A favorite of mine carries the legend "UNITED SNAKES OF AMERICA" and a central device of a donkey-headed goose with "POP" on its body (representing the unity of Populists and Democrats behind free silver). Other popular quips found on Bryan Money were: "IN BRYAN WE TRUST FOR THE OTHER 47CTS;" "FROM THE SILVER MINES OF THE BUNCO STATE;" and "IN MCKINLEY WE TRUST, IN BRYAN WE BUST."

In a Nov. 13, 1907 letter, penned after the new gold $10s and $20s without the motto were placed into circulation, President Roosevelt wrote that:

...throughout the long contest extending over several decades on the free coinage question, the existence of this motto on the coins was a constant source of jest and ridicule; and this was unavoidable. Everyone must remember the innumerable cartoons and articles based on phrases like 'In God We Trust for the Eight Cents,' 'In God We Trust for the Short Weight,' 'In God We Trust for the Thirty-seven cents We do not Pay,' etc., etc. Surely I am well within bounds when I say that a use of the phrase which invites constant levity of this type is most undesirable. If congress alters the law and directs me to replace on the coins the sentence in question, the direction will be immediately put into effect, but I very earnestly trust that the religious sentiment of the country, the spirit of reverence in the country will prevent any such action being taken.

Roosevelt was wrong. On May 18, 1908, Congress passed an act requiring the motto's restoration. Today, except for a few error Presidential dollars, it continues to be shown on coins and paper money, and there's legislation in Congress to move it from the edge to the obverse of the new dollar coins.

Next week I head off for the American Numismatic Association convention in Milwaukee, and I am looking forward to it. The first ANA convention I attended was in 1986, which was the same year I joined staff of Krause Publications. Since then, I've missed only one ANA and that was because of an illness in the family.

Two years ago I was especially pleased to attend the convention in San Francisco because it gave me the opportunity to tour the Granite Lady, the old San Francisco Mint, which is to be restored and include an American Money Museum.

Since then, I've regularly followed online editions of the San Francisco Chronicle, watching for information about the mint. I was pleased, therefore, to read in a June 10 article by Chronicle staff writer Carl Nolte that the rather seedy alleys around the Old Mint are being transformed into a European-style plaza, which will be called Mint Plaza.

When it opened, in 1874, the second San Francisco Mint was the pride of the city, having been built, according to the Nov. 6, 1874 issue of the Alta California, for less than $30,000 of $1.5 million appropriated for the project. The newspaper raved that:

"The Fifth-street front [of the mint] is strikingly majestic, yet the huge columns, which cannot fail to command the attention and admiration of visitors, are finished with so much delicacy of workmanship as if they had been touched with the carpenter's plane."

The Granite Lady served the nation as a mint into the 1930s and is remembered for having been one of the few public buildings to survive the 1906 earthquake and fires that swept through the city. It was also instrumental in the city's recovery.

In the 1970s, when the Granite Lady was being restored and reopened as a mint and a museum, there were some interesting pictures taken of a tour of the facility with then Mint Director Mary Brooks. One of my favorites is shown here. Brooks is pointing to circular indentations on the wall of one of the mint's lower-level vaults, which, according to the caption on the photo's back, were made by pressure from bags of $20 gold pieces once stacked there.

I can confirm that from my visit that the marks still exist, though I was unable to top this picture.

If you care to learn more about what is being done to revitalize the area around the mint, check out Nolte's story. Likewise, if you're interested in the future plans for the Old Mint, visit the Mint Project Web site.