Franklin Peale (1795–1870) was an employee and officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. He was the son of painter Charles Willson Peale, and was born in the museum of curiosities that his father ran in Philadelphia. For the most part, Franklin Peale's education was informal, though he took some classes at the University of Pennsylvania. He became adept in machine making. In 1820, he became an assistant to his father at the museum, and managed it after Charles Peale's death in 1827. In 1833, Peale was hired by the Mint of the United States ("Mint"), and was sent for two years to Europe to study and report back on coining techniques. He returned with plans for improvement, and designed the first steam-powered coinage press in the United States, installed in 1836. Peale was made Melter and Refiner of the Philadelphia Mint that year, and Chief Coiner three years later upon the retirement of the incumbent, Adam Eckfeldt, who continued in his work without pay. Eckfeldt's labor allowed Peale to run a medal business using Mint property. This sideline eventually caused Peale's downfall: conflicts with Engraver James B. Longacre and Melter and Refiner Richard Sears McCulloh led to Peale being accused of misconduct, and he was dismissed by President Franklin Pierce in 1854. In retirement, Peale continued his involvement in and leadership of many civic organizations; he died in 1870.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Peale
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
966:
After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converted to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Poland_during_the_Piast_dynasty
1471:
Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists under Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians near the town of Barnet, killing Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Barnet
1944:
The freighter SS Fort Stikine carrying a mixed cargo of cotton bales, gold, and ammunition exploded in the harbour in Bombay, India, sinking surrounding ships and killing about 800 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Explosion_(1944)
1967:
After leading a military coup three months earlier, Gnassingbé Eyadéma installed himself as President of Togo, a post which he held until 2005. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnassingb%C3%A9_Eyad%C3%A9ma
1994:
In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two US Air Force aircraft mistakenly shot down two US Army helicopters, killing 26 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Black_Hawk_shootdown_incident
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
hapax legomenon: A word occurring only once in a given corpus. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hapax_legomenon
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. --James Branch Cabell https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Branch_Cabell
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