Gold coins. The phrase is generally attributed to Thomas H. Benton. But the resolutions proposed by James Sloan of New Jersey in 1806 were styled by John Randolph “Sloan’s mint-drops.”—‘Life’ (1851), i. 250.
1837. [The money flowed to Mobile] by the aid of the far-famed Specie circular, in “mint drops” and “hard currency.”—J. Q. Adams, House of Repr., Sept. 29: Cong. Globe, p. 339, Appendix.
1872. For many years gold coins were largely known as Benton’s mint-drops (de Vere).
