 According to coin dealer and author Q. David Bowers , upon appointment as chief engraver , Longacre " found that he had entered a hornet 's nest of intrigue , politics , and infighting , dominated by Franklin Peale , chief coiner since 1839 " . Peale sent Mint personnel to work on his private residence , and in addition to his official duties — mostly performed by his predecessor , Adam Eckfeldt , who continued in his work without pay despite his retirement — he had a thriving side business preparing dies for private medals using government resources . Peale controlled access to dies and materials , and was close to Director Patterson ; the two men later proved to have been skimming metal from bullion deposits . The remaining Mint officers were cronies of Patterson , and Longacre found himself a loner among them . Walter Breen , in his comprehensive volume on U.S. coins , suggests that Patterson resented Longacre because of the engraver 's sponsorship by Calhoun , whom the director disliked as a southerner . 
