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On the Director's file of correspondence, date of October 30, 1844, there is an index or abstract of all the letters which passed, relating to the purchase of the Vienna collection of ancient coins, which now forms a considerable part of our collection. The letters, twenty one in number, chiefly between the Director (Dr. R.M. Patterson) and Consul Schwartz of Vienna in Austria, date from June 10, 1843, to October 4, 1844.

The whole cost of the collection, including expenses of carriage, insurance &c. and some books, is there summed up, at $1123.49; at which cost, considering the remarkably fine condition of the specimens, and the cheapness of the Vienna market compared with that of London, the purchase was very advantageous; and since that date, the demand for ancient coins has ^[[largely]] advanced the price, especially in Byzantine coins.

As the appropriation for that year was only $800, it was necessary to part with some duplicate doubloons &c., and to anticipate the appropriation of the year following.

The ancient and Oriental coins sent by John P. Brown Esq. U.S. dragoman at Constantinople, are in the bill of Feby 17, 1844; amount, $125.-