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 10 items.
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, 1849
- Description
- Moffat & Company's mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Eagle with shield, fineness above. Reverse: Engine-turning with name and date in center. This was the final production of the provisional United States operation in San Francisco. A formal branch U.S. Mint was set up soon and began operations in the spring of 1854. A few proof strikes of the 1853 double eagle are known, including this coin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1853
- mint
- U.S. Assay Office
- ID Number
- 1985.0551.0720
- catalog number
- 1985.0551.0720
- accession number
- 1985.0551
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 50 Dollars, Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative, 1915 (octagonal)
- Description
- United States Mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Bust of Liberty as goddess Athena facing left. She wears a crested helmet and carries a shield with the date 1915 in Roman numerals. Reverse: Owl seated on pine bough (the owl was the bird associated with Athena). On this octagonal version, there are eight small dolphins at the eight points of the octagon. Designed by Robert Aitken, these coins were part of an elaborate attempt to raise money for the Panama-Pacific Exposition, held in San Francisco between February and December 1915. In turn, the exposition was intended to celebrate the completion and opening of the Panama Canal in the previous year. The dolphins were on both sides of this octagonal version because they were friendly companions of the vessels making the trip from one ocean to another, via the new Isthmian waterway.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1915
- maker
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.01162
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.01162
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01338
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Fifty Dollars, Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative, 1915 S
- Description
- United States Mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Bust of Liberty as goddess Athena facing left. She wears a crested helmet and carries a shield with the date 1915 in Roman numerals. Reverse: Owl seated on pine bough (the owl was the bird associated with Athena). On the octagonal version, there are eight small dolphins at the eight points of the octagon.
- Designed by Robert Aitken, the round and octagonal coins were part of an elaborate attempt to raise money for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. That celebration was held in San Francisco between February and December, 1915. In turn, the exposition was intended to commemorate the completion and opening of the Panama Canal in the previous year. Dolphins were friendly companions of the vessels making the trip from one ocean to another, via the new Isthmian waterway.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1915
- mint
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- 1985.0551.0777
- catalog number
- 1985.0551.0777
- accession number
- 1985.0551
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Two and a Half Dollars, Panama-Pacific Exposition Commemorative, Proof, 1915 S
- Description
- United States Mint, San Francisco. Obverse: Columbia, seated on a hippocampus, or sea horse. Reverse: Eagle facing left on what appears to be a Roman legionary standard. This and several other commemorative pieces were created at the San Francisco Mint to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the exposition held in its honor. This Smithsonian specimen is the only known proof.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1915
- mint
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- 1985.0551.0780
- catalog number
- 1985.0551.0780
- accession number
- 1985.0551
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, 1854-S
- Description
- The mint struck eagles and double eagles in some quantity (about 124,000 and 141,000, respectively). But it only minted a handful of quarter eagles (less than 250), and hardly more half eagles. The piece shown here is arguably the finest known. San Francisco expanded production in the next few years, adding silver coinage to the gold, and gradually assumed its position as a major producer of the nation's money.
- Made of California gold, this rare coin was one of the first produced at the U.S. Mint branch in San Francisco. The mintmark, "S," is stamped on the reverse. California gold initially had to be shipped for coining to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, an expensive, slow, and risky undertaking. Meanwhile, private mints made coins that could be used in local markets. With the opening of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold could be converted quickly and efficiently into U.S. legal tender.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1854
- issuing authority
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- ID Number
- NU*283645.0272
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0210
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
National Bank Note Proof Sheet
- Description
- In 1904, California-born Amadeo Giannini, son of Italian emigrants from near Genoa, opened the Bank of Italy in San Francisco. The bank loaned money to immigrants and established its reputation in rebuilding San Francisco after the earthquake of 1906. All the loans during that effort were repaid according to Giannini.
- In 2004, the institution celebrated its centennial in Rome as the Bank of America. It is one of the largest corporations in the world. It is also the foremost issuer of credit cards after its merger with MBNA, as well as the foremost lender to small businesses in the United States.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- NU*297219.00535
- accession number
- 297219
- catalog number
- NU*297219.00535
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
U.S. Assay Office, 50 Dollars, 1851
- Description
- As early as 1850, agitation began in Congress for the establishment of a San Francisco branch of the United States Mint. This action was blocked by people from New York-who wanted a branch in their own state-and from Georgia and Louisiana-who argued that any California operation would represent unfair competition to the branch mints in Dahlonega and New Orleans.
- The opposition won, and San Francisco would go without a mint for another four years. But it did get an odd sort of hybrid, the United States Assay Office of Gold, striking an odd sort of money-a gigantic, fifty-dollar ingot that would also do duty as a coin. The arrangement was made by the Treasury Department under a contract with Moffat & Company, private assayers and gold coiners in San Francisco.
- Augustus Humbert came west to oversee the operation, which got under way at the end of January 1851. For most of the next two years, Humbert's fifty-dollar "slugs" were the principal accepted currency in California. He was eventually allowed to turn his attentions to the production of smaller, and altogether more useful, coins, ten- and twenty-dollar pieces. And his operation finally laid the framework for a formal, normal branch Mint, which began the production of ordinary federal coinage in the spring of 1854.
- Date made
- 1851
- mint
- U.S. Assay Office
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1280
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.1142
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1854-S
- Description
- The sheer size of the California gold strike altered the nature of American numismatics. It was not only that mintage figures dramatically increased; the actual range of denominations increased as well.
- Prior to 1849, there had been three gold coins: the quarter eagle, half eagle, and eagle (or $2.50, $5.00, and $10.00 coins). By 1854, three more had been added, a dollar, a three-dollar piece, and a double eagle, or twenty-dollar coin.
- Artist James Barton Longacre designed all three of the new coins. The double eagle was the most popular. For its obverse, Longacre employed a simple head of Liberty, wearing a coronet. Stars surrounded the head of the goddess, and the date appeared below. The reverse depicted a somewhat ornate representation of an eagle, a "glory" of stars and rays above, the national motto to either side.
- In 1854, the United States created a new branch mint in San Francisco to deal with the fruits of the gold rush. It was intended to replace a whole galaxy of private California mints that had created a variety of local coins.
- This double eagle was the first coin the new federal mint struck. Below the eagle, each coin from the new branch Mint bore a distinctive small "S." This distinguished the coin from ones struck in Philadelphia, which had no such mark, and ones struck at New Orleans, which had an "O."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1854
- mint
- U.S. Mint, San Francisco
- maker
- Longacre, James Barton
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0488
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0488
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Silver Dollar Launching Coin
- Description
- In the life of a ship, launching day is one of the most important. Mariners have long believed that a mishap during a vessel’s slide from land to water foretold disaster. If the transition went smoothly, however, it was cause for celebration. This silver dollar was given to shipwright Archie Green on such an occasion in 1942, after he and his fellow shipyard workers successfully launched a C3 cargo ship in San Francisco.
- Launching ceremonies include various rituals, some of which are rooted in maritime traditions. The vessel is officially named on this day, and though not fully completed, it is ready to be moved from the yard into the water, where the final outfitting will be done. The ship is first "christened" by breaking a bottle over the bow, an honor usually performed by a woman associated with the vessel, such as the ship owner’s wife or daughter. As the last of the holding blocks are removed, the ship is released into the water by the launching gang, the crew responsible for ensuring the launch’s success.
- Archie Green was born in Winnipeg, Canada, in 1917 and moved to Los Angeles with his parents in 1922. After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1939, he began to learn the shipbuilding trade at the San Francisco shipyards. When war broke out, he took part in the U.S. government-sponsored emergency shipbuilding program, which was established to offset the terrible losses of cargo ships by Nazi U-boats.
- Drawing from lessons learned during the First World War, shipbuilders developed plans for standardized, prefabricated vessels that could be constructed in any shipyard in the nation. The most famous of these were the Liberty and Victory ships, which transported supplies and troops to Allied positions across the world. A type C3 ship, such as the one associated with this coin, was another design that produced a general-purpose vessel able to carry any cargo, but could also be modified for specific uses. Between 1939 and 1947, 465 of these ships were built in American shipyards.
- Archie Green went on to earn a Ph.D. in folklore and devoted his scholarly and teaching career to workers’ culture and occupational traditions. He remained a member of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America until his death in 2009.
- date made
- 1923
- shipwright
- Green, Archie
- Archie Green's college
- University of California, Berkeley
- ID Number
- 1994.0296.01
- catalog number
- 1994.0296.01
- accession number
- 1994.0296
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center