Coins, Currency, and Medals - Overview
The Museum possesses one of the largest numismatic collections in the world. The collections include over 1 million objects, comprising coins, medals, decorations, and pieces of paper money. Among the many great rarities here are some of the world’s oldest coins, created 2,700 years ago. But the collection also includes the latest innovations in electronic monetary exchange, as well as beads, wampum, and other commodities once used as money. A special strength lies in artifacts that illustrate the development of money and medals in the United States. The American section includes many rare and significant coins, such as two of three known examples of the world's most valuable coin, the 1933 double eagle $20 gold piece.
"Coins, Currency, and Medals - Overview" showing 12 items.
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$100,000 U.S. Gold Certificate
- Description
- During the early 1930s, the United States and the rest of the industrialized world experienced an economic depression. In 1934, the United States continued its movement toward removing its currency from the gold standard. It even became illegal to possess gold coins or gold-based currency until Congress relented somewhat for collectors. The Gold Certificate Series of 1934 poses a slight puzzle since the United States was off the gold standard by 1934. The $100,000 note shown here was not intended for general circulation but was used as an accounting device between branches of the Federal Reserve. This $100,000 note was the highest denomination ever issued by the United States.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1934
- depicted
- Wilson, Woodrow
- issuing authority
- Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- ID Number
- 1978.0941.807
- accession number
- 1978.0941
- catalog number
- 78.5.807
- 1978.0941.807
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Twenty Dollars, 1930 S
- Description
- United States Mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Liberty striding towards the viewer, bearing olive branch and torch. Reverse: Eagle in flight above the sun. Only two dozen of these coins survive. The mintage was small to begin with--only 74,000 pieces--and virtually all of the production run went into the melting pot.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930
- mint
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.1587
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.1587
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Ten Dollars, 1930 S
- Description
- United States Mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, with feathered headdress; stars above, date below. Reverse: Standing eagle facing left. Most of the run was melted. This is one of the finest survivors.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930
- designer
- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
- mint
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.1588
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Twenty Dollars, 1931 D
- Description
- United States Mint, Denver. Obverse: Liberty striding towards the viewer, bearing olive branch and torch. Reverse: Eagle in flight above the sun.
- As many as three dozen may have survived, a huge number by the standards of the day which saw most gold coins melted. However, few specimens match the Smithsonian's specimen in terms of condition.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1931
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Denver
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1008
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0396
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Twenty Dollars, 1931
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty striding towards the viewer, bearing olive branch and torch. Reverse: Eagle in flight above the sun.
- Perhaps twenty double eagles from this year produced at Philadelphia survived. This is one of the survivors.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1931
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1009
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0395
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Ten Dollars, 1933
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty striding towards the viewer, bearing olive branch and torch. Reverse: Eagle in flight above the sun.
- A few dozen of these coins were released into circulation at the beginning of 1933. Only a handful remain today, the rest were melted.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1933
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1012
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0334
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1932
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty striding towards the viewer, bearing olive branch and torch. Reverse: Eagle in flight above the sun. About two dozen coins have survived from the 1932 double eagle mintage.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1932
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- maker
- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.1610
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.1610
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1933
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Production of gold coinage was halted early in 1933 as the United States continued to move away from the gold standard. All double eagles struck in 1933 were not issued or authorized to be released to the public. Instead, they were supposed to be melted down and conveyed as bullion to Fort Knox. But all of the coins were not melted down. A handful were spirited away and kept in hiding for decades. One double eagle dated 1933 surfaced recently, and a complicated arrangement monetized it so that it could be sold at auction for millions of dollars.
- This coin and another 1933 double eagle transferred from the U.S. Mint to the Smithsonian were the only legally owned with that date until recently.
- The 1933 double eagle marks the end of the era in which the U.S. Congress authorized circulating gold coinage.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1933
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- maker
- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
- ID Number
- NU*39166.0001
- accession number
- 130752
- catalog number
- NU*39166.0001
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1933
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Production of gold coinage was halted early in 1933. All double eagles struck that years were not to be released to the public, but melted down and conveyed as bullion to Fort Knox. But all of the coins were not melted down: as seems inevitable under these circumstances, a handful was spirited away, kept in hiding for decades. One coin surfaced recently, and a complicated arrangement resulted in its being sold at auction for millions of dollars.
- The two coins seen here are the only other 1933 double eagles legally held. They were transferred from the U.S. Mint to the Smithsonian Institution.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1933
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- maker
- Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
- ID Number
- NU*39166.0002
- catalog number
- NU*39166.0002
- accession number
- 130752
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Emergency Money
- Description
- When the nation's banks closed during the Depression, Leiter's Pharmacy in Pismo Beach, California, issued this clamshell as change.
- The 1929 stock market crash triggered banking panics, as people rushed to withdraw their savings before they were lost. In March 1933, President Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday to prevent further withdrawals. To compensate for the currency shortage, communities created emergency money, or scrip. This clamshell was signed as it changed hands and redeemed when cash became available again.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1933
- used date
- 1933
- referenced
- Leiter's Pharmacy
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.00467
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.00467
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 79.112.OC102A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center