Coins, Currency, and Medals

$100,000 U.S. Gold Certificate

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.

Name: U.S. Mint

50 Dollars, Pattern, United States, 1877

Patterns and experimental pieces form one of the most interesting groups of specimens associated with official coinage. It was customary for the Mint to provide samples of a proposed coin. More patterns were made in 1877 than in any other year.
Description
Patterns and experimental pieces form one of the most interesting groups of specimens associated with official coinage. It was customary for the Mint to provide samples of a proposed coin. More patterns were made in 1877 than in any other year. The Gold Rush in California prompted the merchants and bankers in San Francisco to lobby Congress for gold pieces of high denomination for quick counting purposes when a branch mint was established in their city in 1854. The design for the proposed large coin was similar to the $20 double eagle. Senator William Gwin of California introduced a bill for the adoption of this coin. His bill passed the Senate but failed to win approval in the House of Representatives. Although the coin was not approved, the proposal for such a large coin was feasible only after enough of the precious metal was available with the discovery of vast quantities in California. The depiction of Liberty on the obverse was a familiar symbol of national identity by 1877 for Americans.
date made
1877
maker
U.S. Mint
designer
Barber, William
ID Number
1986.0836.0060
accession number
1986.0836
catalog number
1986.0836.0060

50 Dollars, Pattern, United States, 1877

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

4 Dollars, Pattern, United States,1879

One (1) 4 dollar coin, patternUnited States, 1879Obverse Image: Left-facing Liberty head with flowing hair.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 4 dollar coin, pattern
United States, 1879
Obverse Image: Left-facing Liberty head with flowing hair. Stars between all letters around edge of coin.
Obverse Text: 6 / G / .3 / S / .7 / C / 7 / G / R / A / M / S / 1879
Reverse Image: Star in center.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FOUR DOL. / E PLURIBUS UNUM / DEO EST GLORIA / ONE STELLA / 400 CENTS
Description
The four-dollar gold piece, or Stella, was the brainchild of the United States minister to Austria-Hungary, John A. Kasson. Kasson wanted an American gold coin that would trade on a par with a number of European counterparts, and the Stella seemed to be the answer.
Patterns were struck in a variety of metals, with two depictions of Liberty. George T. Morgan was responsible for this version, a goddess with coiled hair. Charles E. Barber contributed the second idea, a Liberty with flowing hair.
At the time, aluminum was popular as a pattern coinage metal. It was scarce, and it took a lovely impression from the dies. Experts call this piece a high Rarity-7, suggesting that four to six pieces exist.
[reference no. Judd 1640]
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1879
maker
U.S. Mint
ID Number
1993.0532.0003
accession number
1993.0532
catalog number
1993.0532.0003

1 Dollar, Lafayette, United States, 1900

One (1) dollar coin, LafayetteUnited States, 1900Obverse Image: Portraits of George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette facing right.Obverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / LAFAYETTE DOLLARReverse Image: Statue of Lafayette on horseback.Reverse Text: ERECTED BY THE YOUTH OF THE
Description (Brief)
One (1) dollar coin, Lafayette
United States, 1900
Obverse Image: Portraits of George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette facing right.
Obverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / LAFAYETTE DOLLAR
Reverse Image: Statue of Lafayette on horseback.
Reverse Text: ERECTED BY THE YOUTH OF THE UNITED STATES IN HONOR OF GEN LAFAYETTE / PARIS / 1900
Description
This coin was struck in connection with the Paris Exposition of 1900—specifically, to defray part of the cost of creating a statue of Lafayette on horseback to be shown at the fair. Fifty thousand pieces were struck in mid–December of 1899. One proof has been reported as well. This coin is not a proof, but a regular business strike in extraordinary condition.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1900
maker
U.S. Mint
obverse designer
Barber, Charles
reverse designer
Barber, Charles
ID Number
1994.0288.0002
catalog number
1994.0288.0002
accession number
1994.0288

Birch Cent, United States, Pattern, 1792

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty with flowing hair facing right, date below. Reverse: Denomination in wreath, fraction (1/100) below. This design has been traditionally ascribed to a British artist named William Russell Birch.
Description
United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty with flowing hair facing right, date below. Reverse: Denomination in wreath, fraction (1/100) below. This design has been traditionally ascribed to a British artist named William Russell Birch. Patterns with these designs were struck towards the end of 1792. By the time the cent entered formal production, however, its weight and size had been reduced, and another artist was brought in to design the coin.
[reference no. Judd 4]
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1792
maker
U.S. Mint
ID Number
1993.0532.0001
accession number
1993.0532
catalog number
1993.0532.0001

20 Dollars, Pattern, United States, 1879

United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head left, date below, weight and fineness around. Reverse: Eagle as on normal twenty-dollar coin, but Latin motto DEO EST GLORIA in place of IN GOD WE TRUST.
Description
United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head left, date below, weight and fineness around. Reverse: Eagle as on normal twenty-dollar coin, but Latin motto DEO EST GLORIA in place of IN GOD WE TRUST. This pattern came from the same impetus that led to the creation of the four-dollar gold coin, or Stella. The aim was to give American coinage a greater competitiveness and convertibility in international markets. Nine of these pieces are accounted for in gold including this one. [reference no. Judd 1643]
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1879
maker
U.S. Mint
ID Number
1994.0371.0001
accession number
1994.0371
catalog number
1994.0371.0001

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