A large and fascinating collection of items related to Tett’s visit to the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France in 1995 to see a collection of early U. S. Coins.  Tett learned of an exhibition of half cents, large cents, and other coins at the Bibliothèque Nationale in 1861.  The Alexandre Vattemare Collection was described in the exhibition catalog, and it is one of the earliest half cent collections described in the literature.  The material includes:

1) Tett’s correspondence with the proper authorities eventually leading to the discovery that the collection still existed intact at the library

2) The exhibition catalog (in French, not scanned here)

3) Tett’s planning and subsequent trip to Paris to view and attribute the coins

4) Some material to help Tett refresh his French

5) Tett’s attribution and assessment of the coins in the Bibliothèque Nationale Collection.  They include 34 half cents (including several proofs), 78 large cents, and 59 other coins, many pre-1800 and many in excellent condition, from half-dimes to $20 gold.  There is also a 1850 Proof Set.  Tett describes as many of the coins as he could in the time he had available.

6) Copies of some of the reference material he took to identify the coins

7) His follow-up letters in which he sent half cents of 7 missing dates to round out the collection, as well reference books by Breen, Cohen, and Sheldon for the Bibliothèque Nationale