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.

To keep his skills sharp as an artist, Gasparro was always drawing. Every scrap of paper became a canvas to test out a new coin design.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
To keep his skills sharp as an artist, Gasparro was always drawing. Every scrap of paper became a canvas to test out a new coin design.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.036
catalog number
2009.0005.036
accession number
2009.0005
With a few quick pencil marks, Frank Gasparro's idea is transformed from a thought to a visual representation for the obverse of the Lincoln Memorial cent.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
With a few quick pencil marks, Frank Gasparro's idea is transformed from a thought to a visual representation for the obverse of the Lincoln Memorial cent.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.011
catalog number
2009.0005.011
accession number
2009.0005
Each drawing makes a change. In this variation of the proposed reverse image for a United States dollar coin, an eagle perched on a rock with its wings spread, holding an olive branch in its beak.
Description (Brief)
Each drawing makes a change. In this variation of the proposed reverse image for a United States dollar coin, an eagle perched on a rock with its wings spread, holding an olive branch in its beak. The eagle appears to burst through the rays of the sun in the background.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.059
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.059
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1975
maker
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.044
catalog number
2009.0005.044
accession number
2009.0005
This image may have been one Frank Gasparro showed to get approval from the Mint to create the Lincoln Memorial cent.
Description (Brief)
This image may have been one Frank Gasparro showed to get approval from the Mint to create the Lincoln Memorial cent. The fine detail in this drawing includes a miniscule statue of Abraham Lincoln, wreathes and boughs decorating the monument, and carefully executed lines showing perspective on the steps and in the columns. The inclusion of Gasparro's signature (on the bottom right corner of the image) shows us that Gasparro felt this drawing was more important than many of his multitude of drawings.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.013
catalog number
2009.0005.013
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.008
catalog number
2009.0005.008
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.018
catalog number
2009.0005.018
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.093
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.093
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.010
catalog number
2009.0005.010
accession number
2009.0005
The Gasparro Collection at the National Museum of American History demonstrates the artist's constant mental and tactile preoccupation with the next coin design. Many of his drawings illustrate allegorical figures.
Description (Brief)
The Gasparro Collection at the National Museum of American History demonstrates the artist's constant mental and tactile preoccupation with the next coin design. Many of his drawings illustrate allegorical figures. This quick design is labeled Victory "1776-1781."
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.091
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.091
In this page advertising coins, Frank Gasparro drew directly over images of the Peace and Morgan dollars to perfect his own prototype of Lady Liberty. The process of borrowing imagery in this manner to make your own designs was a 20th—century phenomenon.
Description (Brief)
In this page advertising coins, Frank Gasparro drew directly over images of the Peace and Morgan dollars to perfect his own prototype of Lady Liberty. The process of borrowing imagery in this manner to make your own designs was a 20th—century phenomenon. Only when reproductions and prints were cheap and easily available could this type of sampling be done.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.035
catalog number
2009.0005.035
accession number
2009.0005
Here Gasparro drew a view of Freedom from the bronze statue on the dome of the United States Capitol, originally designed by Thomas Crawford in 1863. Gasparro placed the allegorical figure into a mock-up for a new coin design.
Description (Brief)
Here Gasparro drew a view of Freedom from the bronze statue on the dome of the United States Capitol, originally designed by Thomas Crawford in 1863. Gasparro placed the allegorical figure into a mock-up for a new coin design. As the Mint chief engraver, he was always looking for new ways to use American iconography on coins. The large number of drawings that were preserved in many numismatic collections are evidence that Gasparro experimented and created many more designs for coins than were actually struck.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1965
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.020
catalog number
2009.0005.020
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.056
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.056
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.046
catalog number
2009.0005.046
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.058
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.058
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.060
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.060
Although Gasparro made many drawings of eagles for the reverse of the new dollar coin, the mint ultimately chose to use a reverse that was very similar to that on the 1971—1974 Dwight D. Eisenhower dollar (an adaptation of the Apollo II insignia,) for the Susan B.
Description (Brief)
Although Gasparro made many drawings of eagles for the reverse of the new dollar coin, the mint ultimately chose to use a reverse that was very similar to that on the 1971—1974 Dwight D. Eisenhower dollar (an adaptation of the Apollo II insignia,) for the Susan B. Anthony dollar.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.043
catalog number
2009.0005.043
accession number
2009.0005
In this marker sketch, Frank Gasparro drew an allegorical figure resmbling Liberty. She wears earrings and a crown of skyscrapers topped by a cow. Here the artist shows off his deft hand and sense of play.Currently not on view
Description (Brief)
In this marker sketch, Frank Gasparro drew an allegorical figure resmbling Liberty. She wears earrings and a crown of skyscrapers topped by a cow. Here the artist shows off his deft hand and sense of play.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.096
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.096
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1984
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.102
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.102
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1960
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.007
catalog number
2009.0005.007
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.019
catalog number
2009.0005.019
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.098
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.098
Using tracing paper, Gasparro could place one sheet over a drawing and make incremental changes without having to recreate the whole drawing.
Description (Brief)
Using tracing paper, Gasparro could place one sheet over a drawing and make incremental changes without having to recreate the whole drawing. In this manner Gasparro reversed the eagle in this sketch from facing right to facing left.
In this small group of artwork by Frank Gasparro are five different drawings showing the variations and stages Gasparro developed in eagle designs.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.041
catalog number
2009.0005.041
accession number
2009.0005
This drawing of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was one of many designs made by Frank Gasparro in 1959 for the reverse image of the cent. The new coin was to honor the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.
Description (Brief)
This drawing of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace was one of many designs made by Frank Gasparro in 1959 for the reverse image of the cent. The new coin was to honor the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. From the many sketches and ideas offered, the Mint chose the now-famous image of the Lincoln Memorial, and it remained on the reverse of the cent for the next fifty years. To celebrate the 2009 bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, four new designs were placed on the reverse of the cent. The design, called Birth and Early Childhood in Kentuckylooks very much like Gasparro's log cabin drawing done fifty years earlier.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1958
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.009
catalog number
2009.0005.009
accession number
2009.0005

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