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) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1931Obverse 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, 1931
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 / 1931 / 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
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
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
NU.68.159.0396
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.0396
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1923Obverse 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, 1923
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 / 1923 / 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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1923
maker
United States Mint
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.255927.1813
catalog number
NU*255927.1813
accession number
255927
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1906Obverse Image: Liberty wearing a coronet and facing left. 13 stars around.Obverse Text: LIBERTY / 1906Reverse Image: Heraldic eagle with wings outstretched clutching arrows and branch in talons, shield over chest.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 20 dollar coin
United States, 1906
Obverse Image: Liberty wearing a coronet and facing left. 13 stars around.
Obverse Text: LIBERTY / 1906
Reverse Image: Heraldic eagle with wings outstretched clutching arrows and branch in talons, shield over chest. Scrolls on either side of eagle, ring of 13 stars above eagle's head, rays above stars.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST / E PLURIBUS UNUM / D
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1906
designer
Longacre, James Barton
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.68.159.1044
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1044
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1924Obverse 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, 1924
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 / 1924 / 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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1924
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.68.159.1076
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1076
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1909Obverse 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, 1909
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 / 1909 / D
Reverse Image: Eagle flying through rays of sun.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1909
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.68.159.1057
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.1057
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) 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 through rays of sun
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN / GOD WE TRUST
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Description
Of the approximately ten known survivors of this type of coin, this is one of three in the National Numismatic Collection.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1927
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
NU.68.159.0391
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.0391
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1908Obverse 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, 1908
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 / 1908 / D
Reverse Image: Eagle flying through rays of sun.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1908
maker
United States Mint
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.255927.1469
catalog number
NU*255927.1469
accession number
255927
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1931Obverse 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, 1931
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 / 1931 / 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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1931
maker
United States Mint
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
1985.0441.1600
catalog number
1985.0441.1600
accession number
1985.0441
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1913Obverse 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, 1913
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 / 1913 / D
Reverse Image: Eagle flying through rays of sun.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1913
maker
United States Mint
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.255927.1715
catalog number
NU*255927.1715
accession number
255927
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
Of the approximately ten known survivors, three are in the Smithsonian Institution collection.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1927
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
1985.0441.1523
catalog number
1985.0441.1523
accession number
1985.0441
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1925Obverse 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, 1925
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 / D / 1925
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.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1925
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
ID Number
NU.68.159.0387
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.0387
One (1) 20 dollar coinUnited States, 1926Obverse 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, 1926
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 / 1926 / 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
This is one of a fairly small number of survivors of these coins. It is in exceptional condition.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1926
mint
U.S. Mint, Denver
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
ID Number
1985.0441.1505
catalog number
1985.0441.1505
accession number
1985.0441

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