Watch List notes:

United States Government. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF CLAIMS, TO WHOM WAS REFERRED, ON THE 7TH INSTANT, THE PETITION OF JOHN VAUGHAN, OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, MERCHANT. COMMITTED TO A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE, TO-MORROW, 21ST FEBRUARY, 1799, / 17TH DECEMBER, 1799, COMMITTED TO A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE HOUSE, TO-MORROW. Published by Order of the House of Representatives. Philadelphia: Printed by William Ross, 1799. 8vo, self-covered. 4 pages pages 3 and 4 transposed as always]. Removed from previous binding; very good. A very rare printing of an important legal case made successfully against the U.S. Mint by a prominent Philadelphia merchant. "That the petitioner states, that between the 1st of January and 21st of November, 1795, he deposited in the Mint of the United States, for coinage, a quantity of silver bullion, amounting to 230,888 oz. 10 dwt. of standard silver, as assayed and calculated by the then Assayer of the Mint, at the rate of nine parts fine to one part alloy; and received from the Mint, in coined silver, the same quantity of silver, of the same standard-but that by law, the said silver ought to have been assayed at the rate of 1485 parts fine to 179 parts alloy, and the coin delivered in exchange therefor in the same proportion, as by law established-and that by reason of the superior fineness of the coin to the standard fixed by law, he has sustained a loss of two thousand, two hundred and sixty dollars and thirty-two cents." Vaughan's argument was that the Mint was using a different alloy ratio than that prescribed by law: which in fact it was. The House had already found in favor of Vaughan at the previous session of Congress, but the Senate had disagreed with or postponed the bill, hence its being brought forward again (ergo the two dates on the title page). Vaughan was eventually successful. See Taxay, U.S. Mint and Coinage (pages 89–90) and "The Case of John Vaughan and the Rittenhouse Dollar," by John M. Willem (Numismatic Scrapbook, March 1957). A fascinating and rare early American imprint dealing with the nascent Mint. Evans 36570. Ex David F. Fanning Numismatic Literature, Auction II, lot 268 at $525 hammer; ex Cardinal Collection Library.