Career
He also collected various other things. He lived his whole life in Boston. He made his living first (1830) as a clerk, then as a merchant (until 1852), and eventually was appointed by President Franklin Pierce as an appraiser for the United States Customs Service (1852-1860).
He started his collecting activity with coins, and afterward turned his attention to shells, minerals, et cetera, and finally to books, autographs, manuscripts, portraits, and engravings relating to the United States, including continental money and the more recent issues of paper tokens.
In 1840, he began a collection of bank notes. In 1857 he contributed articles to the Historical Magazine on United States. coins and coinage, which were followed for several years by short articles on these subjects in Notes and Queries.
He was one of the founders of the Boston Numismatic Society (1860), had been its curator, vice president, and president (1865-1891), and was one of the editors of the American Journal of Numismatics (1870-1891).