 Some of the coinage which had vanished from circulation during the Civil War and had been exported to South America continued to be used in Chilean trade as nationals found their local coinage valued poorly with the American pieces . In 1866 , the Chilean government instructed its representative in Washington to approach the U.S. State Department for permission to have their coinage dies made in America . The Andrew Johnson administration was happy to oblige ; Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch gave the Chileans a letter of introduction to Longacre in Philadelphia . Longacre was engaged by the Chileans to redesign five silver and four gold coins , and he agreed , so long as permission from McCulloch was obtained for him to accept an outside fee . McCulloch was initially agreeable , but Mint Director Pollock raised objection on the ground that government property should not be used to enable private gain . Eventually , all parties reached agreement that Longacre could do the work at a total cost of $ 10 @,@ 000 provided that he brought in an outside engraver to do some of the work under Longacre 's supervision ; the chief engraver selected Anthony C. Paquet , one of his former assistants . Resistance at the Mint dissolved with Pollock 's resignation over President Johnson 's Reconstruction policies , and the dies and hubs ( from which more dies could be made ) were created beginning in November 1866 , probably in @-@ house at the Philadelphia Mint . Longacre 's designs for Chile were used until new ones were adopted in the 1890s . 
