Coins, Currency, and Medals

The museum possesses one of the largest and most diverse numismatic collections in the world. Its diverse holdings represent every inhabited continent and span more than three millennia. The collection includes coins, paper money, medals, tokens, commodity and alternative currencies, coin dies, printing plates, scales and weights, financial documents and apparatuses, credit cards, and objects that reflect established and emerging digital monetary technologies worldwide.

One (1) 10 dollar coinUnited States, 1830Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD / 1830Reverse Image: N/AReverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER / TEN DOLLARSBefore the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Caroli
Description (Brief)
One (1) 10 dollar coin
United States, 1830
Obverse Image: N/A
Obverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD / 1830
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER / TEN DOLLARS
Description
Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal.
What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities. A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
He later moved to Gainesville, which was closer to the gold mining district. His coins came in three denominations: ten dollars, five dollars, and two and one-half dollars, in recognition of "official" denominations. And he put slightly more gold into his products than the federal government did into its coins, just to be on the safe side.
Although historians believe that Templeton Reid conducted business fairly, an unknown adversary, signing himself simply "no assayer," published several notices in newspapers complaining that the coins were not as represented.
Rumors spread and before long Reid was forced to close up the business.
date made
1830
maker
Reid, Templeton
ID Number
NU.68.159.1185
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1185
One (1) 50 dollar coinUnited States, 1851Obverse Image: Eagle standing on a rock, holding a shield, with a ribbon in its beak.Obverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / AUGUSTUS HUMBERT UNITED STATES ASSAYER OF GOLD CALIFORNIA / 1851 / 887 THOUS / FIFTY DOLLSReverse Image: Engine-t
Description (Brief)
One (1) 50 dollar coin
United States, 1851
Obverse Image: Eagle standing on a rock, holding a shield, with a ribbon in its beak.
Obverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / AUGUSTUS HUMBERT UNITED STATES ASSAYER OF GOLD CALIFORNIA / 1851 / 887 THOUS / FIFTY DOLLS
Reverse Image: Engine-turned design.
Reverse Text: N/A
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
United States Assay Office of Gold
ID Number
NU.68.159.1142
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1142
In 1848, the largest single gold rush in history was just getting under way in California. This event soon triggered a mass migration of fortune hunters from around the world.
Description
In 1848, the largest single gold rush in history was just getting under way in California. This event soon triggered a mass migration of fortune hunters from around the world. At the outset, much of the California gold was converted to coins by private minters in the San Francisco area. However, supplies of gold were also sent to Philadelphia where the metal was turned into ordinary federal coins.
Smaller quantities of gold made it to various locations including Oregon. Between March and September, 1849, an entity calling itself the Oregon Exchange Company struck $10 and $5 coins, by hand, in Oregon City. Both denominations bore simple designs. Their obverses depicted a beaver, the fur-bearing mammal that had spurred the first interest in the region. Above the animal, there were initials standing for the last names of the principal players in the operation.
The initials O.T. or T.O. (both for Oregon Territory) and the date rounded out the obverse design. For the reverse, the name of the issuing authority and the denomination sufficed. Scholars believe that around 2,850 of the $10 coins were made. Dies for them can still be seen at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland.
But the life of the Oregon mint was brief. The coiners set their products' weight above federal norms, and most of the Oregon coinage was melted down for profit. The mint ceased operation early in September 1849.
date made
1849
maker
United States Mint
Oregon Exchange Company
ID Number
1985.0441.2216
catalog number
1985.0441.2216
accession number
1985.0441
One (1) 50 dollar coin, patternUnited States, 1877Obverse Image: Left-facing Liberty wearing a coronet. 13 stars.Obversre Text: LIBERTY / 1877Reverse Image: A modified heraldic eagle with a shield over chest, holding a double scroll, clutching arrows and branch.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 50 dollar coin, pattern
United States, 1877
Obverse Image: Left-facing Liberty wearing a coronet. 13 stars.
Obversre Text: LIBERTY / 1877
Reverse Image: A modified heraldic eagle with a shield over chest, holding a double scroll, clutching arrows and branch. Rays and stars above eagle.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FIFTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST / E PLURIBUS UNUM
Description
Some twenty years after the private sector had abandoned the idea of a fifty-dollar gold piece in the mid-1850s, the Philadelphia Mint considered the possibility of a federal coin of this denomination. There was even talk of a "union," or hundred-dollar coin, and a drawing or two has survived to suggest what the Mint had in mind. But in the end, no such coin was ever produced.
The project went a bit farther in the case of the "half-union." Dies were prepared, the work of William Barber (father of the eventual Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber).
Barber's obverse and reverse designs look vaguely akin to Longacre's work for the double eagle. A few patterns were struck in copper and two in gold; the latter share a reverse die but each has a slightly different obverse die. The project was abandoned soon afterwards, as it became apparent that the new coin simply wasn't needed.
date made
1877
maker
U.S. Mint
designer
Barber, William
ID Number
1986.0836.0059
accession number
1986.0836
catalog number
1986.0836.0059
A decade or so after the California Gold Rush began in the late 1840s, gold was discovered on the South Platte River, near the future city of Denver.
Description
A decade or so after the California Gold Rush began in the late 1840s, gold was discovered on the South Platte River, near the future city of Denver. As with the earlier strike, this one occasioned disputes over the value and purity of gold dust, as well as great difficulties in getting the precious metal all the way to Philadelphia to be coined there, and shipped back again.
Matters would be greatly simplified if a coiner, either private or public, could set up shop near the gold fields. A good candidate existed-Clark, Gruber & Co. Up to now, the firm had acted as brokers, bankers, and assayers. But if a coinage was wanted, Austin and Milton Clark and Emmanuel Gruber were up to the challenge and had the resources to do it right.
Milton Clark went back East to get the necessary machinery, three lots were purchased in Denver, and a two-story brick building soon went up on the property. Trial strikes of the four denominations to be coined ($2.50, $5, $10, and $20) were ready for inspection by mid-July 1860, and formal coinage began about a week after that.
One of the firm's most famous products showed a marvelous, if unrealistic, image of Pikes Peak, beneath which Denver-and the Clark, Gruber enterprise-sat. The facility remained in operation through 1862, although all of its coins were dated 1860 and 1861. It was elbowed out of the coining business in April 1863. It turned first into a federal assay office, then 43 years later, into another branch of the United States Mint.
date made
1860
mint
Clark, Gruber & Co.
ID Number
1985.0441.2226
catalog number
1985.0441.2226
accession number
1985.0441
If you look very closely at the reverse of this, the sole remaining "class two" 1804 dollar, you will discern a slight shifting of the relationship between the clouds and the lettering above them.This discrepancy, which distinguishes it from the "class one" and "class three" 1804
Description
If you look very closely at the reverse of this, the sole remaining "class two" 1804 dollar, you will discern a slight shifting of the relationship between the clouds and the lettering above them.
This discrepancy, which distinguishes it from the "class one" and "class three" 1804 dollars, suggests that a new reverse die was employed to strike the coin. This new die was necessary because the old one had either been broken, rusted, or simply discarded after the coinage of 1834, when the class one dollars were struck.
This coin was made a quarter-century later, by a group of enterprising coiners who had decided to go into the rarities business. In addition to making a new die, these midnight coiners had to have stock on which to use it. Instead of following the usual procedure of rolling out a strip of metal to the correct thickness, then blanking it to the correct size-a difficult and expensive process, they decided to start with an existing coin and overstrike it with the new die. That way the new coin would be of about the right weight and thickness. This coin shows traces of the original design: it began its life as a Swiss thaler dated 1857!
When word got out about what was going on, the Mint Director swooped down on the miscreants. All their coins but this one were retrieved and ordered melted down. It remains: a somewhat tarnished, but still legendary rarity.
date made
1804
mint
U.S. Mint (unauthorized)
ID Number
1986.0836.0062
catalog number
1986.0836.0062
accession number
1986.0836
Theodore Roosevelt met sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the 1890s, when T.R. was an aspiring young politician, and Saint-Gaudens was establishing a reputation as a brilliant artist.
Description
Theodore Roosevelt met sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens in the 1890s, when T.R. was an aspiring young politician, and Saint-Gaudens was establishing a reputation as a brilliant artist. When Roosevelt was elected President in 1904 and needed an inaugural medal, he gave the commission to Saint-Gaudens after rejecting the standard, unmemorable medal typically produced for this occasion by the United States Mint.
Saint-Gaudens's results shattered precedent. The piece was modern in all senses of the word. There was no attempt to beautify or romanticize the President's head on the obverse, yet the image clearly conveyed vision and power. The reverse was, if anything, even more groundbreaking. The magnificent, left-facing eagle epitomized authority and presence, while displaying a classical ancient style. (The same eagle is used on the Saint-Gaudens $10 in 1907). This bird unquestionably ruled all it surveyed.
Saint-Gaudens's success with this medal convinced Roosevelt that the artist was the partner he needed to collaborate on a pet project: the redesign of America's money. Saint-Gaudens signed on, and the plotting began. But the potential for trouble hovered on the horizon: this medal had been struck, not by the United States Mint in Philadelphia, but by Tiffany & Company in New York. If the Mint hadn't produced Saint-Gaudens's medal, would it agree to produce any of his coins?
date made
1905
associated date
1905-03-05
associated person
Roosevelt, Theodore
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
Weinman, Adolph A.
maker
Tiffany & Company
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
2005.0142.02
accession number
2005.0142
catalog number
2005.0142.02
One (1) 1 2/3 dollar noteMaryland, 1775Obverse Image: Patriotic scene depicts King George III setting fire to the city of Baltimore.Obverse Text: (126) / [NO.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 1 2/3 dollar note
Maryland, 1775
Obverse Image: Patriotic scene depicts King George III setting fire to the city of Baltimore.
Obverse Text: (126) / [NO. 38663] / ONE DOLLAR AND TWO THIRDS OF A DOLLAR / THIS BILL OF ONE DOLLAR AND TWO THIRDS OF A DOLLAR, SHALL ENTITLE THE BEARER HEREOF TO RECIEVE GOLD AND SILVER, AT THE RATE FOUR SHILLINGS AND SIX-PENCE STERLING PER DOLLAR, FOR THE SAID BILL ACCORD-ING TO A RESOLVE OF THE PROVINCIAL CONVENTION OF MAYLAND, HELD AT THE CITY OF ANNAPOLIS, ON THE 26TH OF JULY 1775.
Reverse Image: Patriotic scene on back depicts an allegory of peace between Great Britain and America.
Reverse Text: ONE DOLLAR AND 2/3 OF A DOLLAR / PAX
Description
American currency was sometimes used to mold public opinion during the War for Independence. The high-minded Latin mottoes suggested by Ben Franklin had this intent. So did a series of small, printed messages on North Carolina currency issued between 1778 and 1780. But an early series of Maryland notes, including this specimen, stand out.
The note is worn, and, in common with several of its fellows, it was carefully stitched together, obscuring part of the design. But if we could see everything, we would see that, on the front of the note, a figure representing Great Britain receives a petition of the Continental Congress. It is handed to her by an America, who is simultaneously trampling on a scroll marked SLAVERY and holding aloft a Liberty cap on a pole, a beacon for American troops who are hastening to the scene from the right.
Meanwhile, George III (the figure at the center-left) is doing his best to set fire to an American city (perhaps Baltimore) already under attack from a British fleet. He's also trampling a copy of Magna Charta, just to underscore the point. Inscriptions along the sides read "AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN" and "PRO ARIS ET FOCIS" (For altars and hearths). The other side of the note conveys hope. Britain and America are shown achieving peace, with the reminder that "PAX TRIUMPHIS POTIOR" (Peace is preferable to victory).
The note was designed by Annapolis silversmith Thomas Sparrow in the summer of 1775. His initials are inscribed on the front and his full name on the back. This series of Maryland notes remains the most politically charged currency ever issued in the United States during wartime.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1775
date on object
1775-07-26
maker
Maryland
ID Number
NU.NU75446
serial number
38663
accession number
248478
catalog number
NU75446
The American colonies (or states, as they now began calling themselves) issued currency of their own to pay war expenses and keep local economies afloat. Issues from Virginia featured an armored Amazon brandishing a sword.
Description
The American colonies (or states, as they now began calling themselves) issued currency of their own to pay war expenses and keep local economies afloat. Issues from Virginia featured an armored Amazon brandishing a sword. She stands above and on the prone body of a dead male ruler, whose crown has fallen on the ground. The motto could not be more plain: SIC SEMPER TYRANNUS (Be it ever thus to tyrants). This vivid image still adorns the Virginia state flag.
Unlike most Revolutionary War currency, this note was printed on only one side. And the paper for its printing left something to be desired. It looks as if this note were forcibly torn in two. But whether it was torn deliberately or by accident, someone pinned it back together-crudely but effectively.
The denomination is given as "fifteen Spanish milled dollars." Those coins were the famous "pieces of eight," now minted by machinery ("milled") in Mexico City and elsewhere. They were the monies of choice when coins were available, and Americans liked them so much that they eventually based their own United States dollar on the Spanish-American prototype.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1776
date on object
1776-10-07
maker
Virginia
ID Number
NU.68.135.74
catalog number
68.135.74
accession number
279615
serial number
13942
By the time they broke with England, the thirteen American colonies had been issuing paper currency for nearly a century.
Description
By the time they broke with England, the thirteen American colonies had been issuing paper currency for nearly a century. Both they and the loose central government they set up under the Articles of Confederation to oversee matters of common concern would continue to do so throughout the War of Independence. The "national" paper went by the name of "Continental Currency." As its name suggests, it was issued by the Continental Congress.
The paper on which it was printed was of very high quality but was also very soft. Because the notes were often folded horizontally, they often developed top-to-bottom breaks at midpoint. Left to themselves, the two halves would eventually part company. Whether anyone would take just half a note in payment was unclear. That uncertainty led people to adopt all kinds of stratagems to keep notes intact or repair those that had torn apart.
But there was more to it than that. To many, this new money symbolized a new nation-it had to be repaired, kept afloat. Because if it were not, what would that say about the aspiring nation that had issued it? Various methods were devised to do the job. In the case of this two-dollar bill, someone expert with a needle and thread-perhaps a housewife, or a sailor-carefully sewed the two halves back together. That effort has now survived for more than two centuries.
Continental currency was printed by Benjamin Franklin's successors, Hall & Sellers. Franklin also suggested inspiring vignettes and mottoes for the notes. The face of the two-dollar bill bears an image of grain being flailed (separated from the chaff), with the motto, TRIBULATIO DITAT (Troubles make us stronger).
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1776
date on object
1776-02-17
maker
Continental Congress
Hall & Sellers
ID Number
NU.69.217.34
accession number
287114
catalog number
69.217.34
The thirty-dollar note was the highest denomination issued during the first three years or so of Continental Currency. We might wonder why the authorities issued such an odd denomination.
Description
The thirty-dollar note was the highest denomination issued during the first three years or so of Continental Currency. We might wonder why the authorities issued such an odd denomination. The answer is that what seems odd to us seemed perfectly logical to them.
The thirty-dollar bills-and threes, fours, sixes, and eights, as well as bills worth a sixth, or a third, or two-thirds of a dollar-were put into circulation for two reasons. First, some of them were conscious substitutes for coins of the same value. And second, they were there to make change: if all you have in circulation is paper currency, you had better give the public the money it needs.
So if a merchant got an eight-dollar Continental note in payment for a five-dollar object, he could give the customer a three in return. This situation in fact lasted through the mid-1860s. Notes in today's familiar denominations are a recent phenomenon.
The image on the face of the note speaks to the advantages of righteous dealing (appropriate for a commercial object such as this note). The images on the back present two views on the reasons for the war against England. The left one (VI CONCITATAE) suggests that the colonies were forced into the conflict, while the one on the right (CESSANTE VENTO CONQUIESCEMUS) promises that they would rest and revive after it was over.
Continental currency often split in half because it was frequently folded. This bill was sewn back together to repair it.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1776
date on object
1776-07-22
maker
Continental Congress
Hall & Sellers
ID Number
NU.69.217.54
catalog number
69.217.54
accession number
287114
serial number
29269
One can't be too careful. This Connecticut note was falling apart when someone backed it with part of a contemporary newspaper, full of news about the war between England and France in the Caribbean. But simple glue would not suffice to mend the note.
Description
One can't be too careful. This Connecticut note was falling apart when someone backed it with part of a contemporary newspaper, full of news about the war between England and France in the Caribbean. But simple glue would not suffice to mend the note. Someone carefully stitched the note again and again, covering it with an irregular but very strong reinforcement.
And it worked. The bill was later canceled and retired by means of a cut from the center to the bottom margin, and it still held together-as did the dreams of the patriots who created and kept it in circulation.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1776
date on object
1776-06-07
maker
Connecticut
Green, Timothy II
ID Number
NU.71.122.1117
catalog number
71.122.1117
accession number
297844
serial number
6236
James Smithson was born in 1765, the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate.
Description
James Smithson was born in 1765, the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate. Elizabeth Keate had been married to James Macie, and so Smithson first bore the name of James Lewis Macie.
His mother later married Mark Dickinson, by whom she had another son. When she died in 1800, he and his half-brother inherited a sizable estate. He changed his name at this time from Macie to Smithson. James Smithson died June 27, 1829, in Genoa, Italy. His will left his fortune to his nephew, son of his half-brother, but stipulated that if that nephew died without children (legitimate or illegitimate), the money should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
The nephew, Henry Hungerford Dickinson, died without heirs in 1835, and Smithson's bequest was accepted in 1836 by the United States Congress. Smithson never visited the United States, and the reason for his generous bequest is unknown. But his gift was the foundation grant for the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1817, while living in Genoa, Italy, Smithson commissioned a gifted Italian sculptor named Antonio Canova to create his portrait in the form of this medal. Smithson evidently approved of Canova's efforts: he scratched his name on the other, otherwise blank side of his medal. It is still visible today, very faint after the passage of nearly two centuries.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1817
maker
Paris Mint
obverse engraver
Tiolier, Nicholas P.
ID Number
1991.0009.0393
catalog number
1991.0009.0393
accession number
1991.0009
This coin is one of the type sent to the United States at James Smithson's bequest for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution.
Description
This coin is one of the type sent to the United States at James Smithson's bequest for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson was born in 1765 as the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate.
Elizabeth Keate had been married to James Macie, and so Smithson first bore the name of James Lewis Macie. His mother later married Mark Dickinson, by whom she had another son. When she died in 1800, he and his half-brother inherited a sizable estate. He changed his name at this time from "Macie" to "Smithson."
James Smithson died June 27, 1829, in Genoa, Italy. His will left his fortune to his nephew, son of his half-brother, but stipulated that if that nephew died without children (legitimate or illegitimate), the money should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
The nephew, Henry Hungerford Dickinson, died without heirs in 1835, and Smithson's bequest was accepted in 1836 by the United States Congress. Smithson never visited the United States, and the reason for his generous bequest is unknown. The gift was the foundation grant for the Smithsonian Institution.
The Smithson bequest consisted of 104,960 gold sovereigns. Presumably they all bore the head of the new Queen Victoria, who had acceded to the throne in 1837.
The United States insisted on new sovereigns rather than circulated ones for a very practical reason: the United States would get more gold that way. The U.S. Mint subsequently melted these coins down to reuse the gold.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1838
ruler
Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India
maker
American Type Founders Company
Great Britain
ID Number
1985.0441.1579
catalog number
1985.0441.1579
accession number
1985.0441
One (1) 5 dollar coinUnited States, 1849Obverse Image: Beaver on log, branches below.Obverse Text: K.M.T.A.W.R.G.S. / T.O. / 1849Reverse Image: N/AReverse Text: OREGON EXCHANGE COMPANY / 130 G. / NATIVE GOLD.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 5 dollar coin
United States, 1849
Obverse Image: Beaver on log, branches below.
Obverse Text: K.M.T.A.W.R.G.S. / T.O. / 1849
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: OREGON EXCHANGE COMPANY / 130 G. / NATIVE GOLD. / 5 D.
Description
In 1848, the largest single gold rush in history was just getting under way in California. This event soon triggered a mass migration of fortune hunters from around the world. At the outset, much of the California gold was converted to coins by private minters in the San Francisco area. However, supplies of gold were also sent to Philadelphia where it was made into ordinary federal coins.
Smaller quantities of gold made it to various locations including Oregon. Between March and September, 1849, an entity calling itself the Oregon Exchange Company struck $10 and $5 coins, by hand, in Oregon City. Both denominations bore simple designs. Their obverses depicted a beaver, the fur-bearing mammal that had spurred the first interest in the region.
Above the animal, there were initials standing for the last names of the principal players in the operation. The initials O.T. or T.O. (both for Oregon Territory) and the date rounded out the obverse design. For the reverse, the name of the issuing authority and the denomination sufficed. Dies for the coins can still be seen at the Oregon Historical Society headquarters in Portland.
But the life of the Oregon mint was brief. The coiners set their products' weight above federal norms, and most of the Oregon coinage was melted down for profit. The mint ceased operation early in September 1849.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1849
maker
Oregon Exchange Company
ID Number
1985.0441.2217
catalog number
1985.0441.2217
accession number
1985.0441
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1787
designer
Brasher, Ephraim
engraver
Brasher, Ephraim
maker
Brasher, Ephraim
ID Number
1988.0063.0070
accession number
1988.0063
catalog number
1988.0063.0070
1988.0063.0070
One (1) 5 dollar coinUnited States, 1830Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD. / $5Reverse Image: N/AReverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 5 dollar coin
United States, 1830
Obverse Image: N/A
Obverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD. / $5
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: TEMPLETON REID ASSAYER. / $5
Description
Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal. What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities.
A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville, and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
His coins came in three denominations: ten dollars, five dollars, and two and one-half dollars, in recognition of "official" denominations. And he put slightly more gold into his products than the federal government did into its coins, just to be on the safe side. Although historians believe that Templeton Reid conducted business fairly, an unknown adversary, signing himself simply "no assayer," published several notices in newspapers complaining that the coins were not as represented.
Rumors spread and before long Reid was forced to close up the business.
He apparently planned to go to California to participate in the gold rush there, and even made dies with a California imprint. However there is no record of his having made the trip West.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830
maker
Reid, Templeton
ID Number
1991.0357.0126
catalog number
1991.0357.0126
accession number
1991.0357
One (1) 5 dollar coinUnited States, 1834Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: CAROLINA GOLD. / CARATS. / AUGUST 1. 1834. / 140 / .G. / 20.Reverse Image: Star.Reverse Text: C. BECHTLER.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 5 dollar coin
United States, 1834
Obverse Image: N/A
Obverse Text: CAROLINA GOLD. / CARATS. / AUGUST 1. 1834. / 140 / .G. / 20.
Reverse Image: Star.
Reverse Text: C. BECHTLER. AT RUTHERF: / 5 DOLLARS.
Description
Like Templeton Reid, a family of German immigrants named Bechtler established a private mint to coin gold between 1830 and 1852. The head of the clan, Alt Christoph, started out in the Black Forest area where he was apprenticed as a goldsmith, silversmith, and gunsmith.
Already well into middle age, he decided to seek his fortune in America. The early spring of 1830 found him and his family in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where they set up shop as jewelers and watchmakers. The shortage of coinage in that part of the South, the abundance of gold from the new discoveries, the near-impossibility of getting it safely to the Mint at Philadelphia, and Alt Christoph's experience as a metallurgist, set the conditions for an important event.
When local settlers were unsuccessful in petitioning Congress to establish a branch Mint, Alt Christoph created a private mint. He made his dies, punches, even his presses, himself. His coins were simple affairs, but they were of honest weight and good quality. His first gold coins began making their appearance in the summer of 1831.
Alt Christoph ran the Bechtler mint until 1840. He then retired, and the operation was taken over by his son, August, remaining at work until about 1852, when it finally closed. To the Bechtlers goes the distinction of issuing the first gold dollars. They were doing so as early as 1834; the federal government didn't get around to striking the denomination until 1849!
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1834
mint
Bechtlers
obverse designer
Bechtler, Alt Christoph
reverse designer
Bechtler, Alt Christoph
ID Number
1991.0357.0143
catalog number
1991.0357.0143
accession number
1991.0357
One (1) 2 1/2 dollar coinUnited States, 1830Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD. / 1830Reverse Image: N/AReverse Text: T. REID ASSAYER.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 2 1/2 dollar coin
United States, 1830
Obverse Image: N/A
Obverse Text: GEORGIA GOLD. / 1830
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: T. REID ASSAYER. / 2.50
Description
Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal. What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities.
A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville, and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
Reid struck about a thousand of the $2.50 denomination. As with the larger $10 and $5 dollar denominations, most were later melted down and re-coined by the U.S. Mint. We can trace fewer than twenty-five survivors, including this one.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1830
maker
Reid, Templeton
ID Number
NU.68.159.1183
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1183
As early as 1850, agitation began in Congress for the establishment of a San Francisco branch of the United States Mint.
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 Louisiana and Georgia-who argued that any California operation would represent unfair competition to the branch mints in New Orleans and Dahlonega.
The opposition won, and San Francisco went without a branch 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 also did duty as a coin.
In addition to the Assay Office, other California coiners toyed with the idea of striking fifty-dollar gold pieces. One group, headed by J. G. Kellogg and G. F. Richter went so far as to have dies for circular slugs prepared and a dozen or so proofs struck from those dies.
But by the time the project had gone forward that far, the federal branch Mint at San Francisco was finally coming into full production. Soon California private gold coinage, no matter how large or small the denominations, became irrelevant.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1855
mint
Kellogg and Company
ID Number
NU.78.73.1
accession number
1978.2507
catalog number
78.73.1
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1927Obverse Image: Full-length Liberty holding a torch in her right hand and olive branch in left.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 20 dollar coin
United States, 1927
Obverse Image: Full-length Liberty holding a torch in her right hand and olive branch in left. Capitol Dome in lower left; rays of sun in background; stars around rim.
Obverse Text: LIBERTY / 1927 / D
Reverse Image: Eagle flying with sun behind.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Description
Numismatic legends can be contrived, or they can be accidental-objects that never started as legends but became legendary due to unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps all but a few members of a given mintage were destroyed, or hoarded in unsettled times and never recovered. Under these circumstances, legendary status will be acquired years after the actual creation of the object.
America's numismatic story embraces a number of accidental legends, but none, perhaps, is more fascinating than a double eagle, struck in Denver in 1927. When the 1927 Denver twenty-dollar gold piece was minted, there was absolutely nothing exceptional about the coin, or the circumstances of its creation.
The United States was firmly on the gold standard. Gold was still being mined in Alaska and the West, and the United States branch mints at Denver and San Francisco were expected to turn the yellow metal into gold coins, which they did. That year saw Denver producing 180,000 double eagles-a decline from the figure for previous years, but a perfectly acceptable mintage.
If matters had remained as they were when the coins were struck, they never would have become legendary. But matters did not remain the same. An economic downturn at the end of the 1920s turned into an economic collapse by the beginning of the 1930s; and a new President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, decided to take the country off the gold standard as one more way of combating the Depression.
Under the circumstances, most gold coins were called in and melted. Provisions were made for exempting collectibles, but few people thought of the recent gold issues as collectibles. So virtually all were turned in, the 1927 Denver double eagles along with the rest. And a once reasonably common twenty-dollar coin from Denver acquired legendary status. At present, this is one of fewer than a dozen that are known.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1927
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
1984.1046.0812
catalog number
1984.1046.0812
accession number
1984.1046
One (1) 50 cent shell, Restwell CabinsCalifornia, United States, 1933Obverse Image: N/AObverse Text: GOOD FOR 50C ON DEMAND AT THE RESTWELL CABINS / 3-8-33/ SCRIP / PISMO BEACH CALI / SIGN OTHER SIDE / IN GOD WE TRUST/ No.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 50 cent shell, Restwell Cabins
California, United States, 1933
Obverse Image: N/A
Obverse Text: GOOD FOR 50C ON DEMAND AT THE RESTWELL CABINS / 3-8-33/ SCRIP / PISMO BEACH CALI / SIGN OTHER SIDE / IN GOD WE TRUST/ No. 5A
Reverse Image: N/A
Reverse Text: SIGN HERE
Description
When the Great Depression and resulting banking crisis hit their community, the residents of the California coastal town of Pismo Beach picked an unusual but logical medium of exchange. The pismo is a species of clam with a very thick shell, then found in large numbers along the California coast and prized as a food.
A town named after clams suggests an adequate supply of their shells. Perhaps with tongue in cheek, the merchants and officials of Pismo Beach (who were often the same people) decided to make the best of a bad situation, and to make the humble pismo shell into an object of trade. This they did. The Chamber of Commerce and no fewer than eleven merchants issued clamshell scrip. Restwell Cabins issued "notes" in three denominations: twenty-five cents, fifty cents, and one dollar.
The larger the amount, the larger the shell. The issue may have been partly intended as a spoof, or for sale to tourists, in the manner of German notgeld around 1920. Redemption would never be a problem because collectors would wish to keep such pieces in their cabinets or trade them with their friends. But it was also intended partly as a real, if unique, circulating medium. The Restwell Cabins issue bore the motto, "IN GOD WE TRUST."
Each piece was numbered, and each piece was signed on the front and on the back. As with the stamp notes of the Midwest, it was necessary to sign each clamshell on the back in order to keep it in circulation. No formal requirements may have existed, but informal pressure certainly would have endorsed the practice.
This specimen is dated March 8, 1933. This was in the middle of Roosevelt's national banking holiday, and it is exactly the time when we might expect to see people take money into their own hands.
date made
1933
maker
Restwell Cabins
ID Number
1979.1263.00472
accession number
1979.1263
catalog number
79.112.OC102F
collector/donor number
OC102F
Among the most alluring coins of antiquity was the Syracuse dekadrachm. Its artistry (designed by Kimon and Euinatos, among others)and incredibly high relief have captivated coin lovers for two and a half millennia.
Description
Among the most alluring coins of antiquity was the Syracuse dekadrachm. Its artistry (designed by Kimon and Euinatos, among others)and incredibly high relief have captivated coin lovers for two and a half millennia. How did the Greeks, who worked only by hand, achieve such levels of beauty?
One of those attracted by coins such as this was a dynamic American president, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt's record as a political reformer is well known. What is less recognized is his role in reforming American money. When the President compared contemporary American coins to Classical masterpieces such as this dekadrachm, he became indignant. Why, he wondered, did the powerful, young nation he was leading tolerate its pedestrian gold and silver coinage? Why couldn't American money be more artistic? Why couldn't it be as beautiful as ancient coinage? Why couldn't it feature dramatic relief, so that every facet of its design was clear for all to see? Roosevelt acted on his thought by enlisting sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design what many regard as the most beautiful American coin ever produced, the 1907 twenty-dollar gold piece.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
late 5th century BCE
late 5th century BCE
maker
Syracuse
ID Number
1981.1025.0010
accession number
1981.1025
catalog number
1981.1025.0010
Called upon by the British government to help fight the French in Canada in 1689, Massachusetts authorities were hard-put to comply, because official money was unavailable.
Description
Called upon by the British government to help fight the French in Canada in 1689, Massachusetts authorities were hard-put to comply, because official money was unavailable. The Hull/Sanderson mint, which had created Pine Tree Shillings and other coins, had been closed on Crown orders years before, and all coinage was now in extremely short supply.
Then someone had an idea: Why not issue paper certificates to pay for the supplies and troops that Massachusetts was expected to contribute? The Crown had promised to reimburse the colony, in coinage, at war's end. The experiment was tried, and it worked. The first government-issued paper money in the entire Western world had made its appearance unexpectedly in Massachusetts.
Since these notes could eventually be redeemed for coinage - were in fact as good as gold or silver - another unknown functionary had an epochal idea: why not leave them in circulation? After all, everyone accepted their status as "real" money, and the need for them was great. So it was done. Colonial authorities elsewhere watched, and when the Crown did not stop the experiment in the Bay Colony, other colonies decided to begin issuing paper currency of their own.
Paper's popularity spread, and colonial America became dependent upon it. But paper was vulnerable to counterfeiting, or, in this case, to tampering. No twenty-shilling notes were actually issued by Massachusetts in 1690. Yet someone skilled with a pen thought there ought to be one, and proceeded to create it, altering the original denomination of two shillings sixpence.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1690-02-03
issuing authority
Massachusetts Bay Colony
ID Number
NU.71.133.1
serial number
419
accession number
297196
catalog number
71.133.1

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