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 18 items.
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United States, 10 Dollars, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped Liberty head facing left, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination below. This pattern was designed by artist George T. Morgan. Most patterns he designed came to look like his one successful, circulating coin, the silver dollar that bears his name. It has been estimated that between seven and twelve patterns like this one exist in copper. No mention has been found of a gilt copper piece elsewhere. [reference no. Judd 1545]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.01045
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.01045
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01280
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coronet facing left, date below. Reverse: Denomination in a cereal wreath. William Barber designed this pattern. Only a half-dozen,including this one, are known. [reference no. Judd 1544]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.01046
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.01046
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01279
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, Pattern, 1878
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, wearing cap. Reverse: Eagle, denomination below. The fact that this pattern was designed by George T. Morgan comes as no surprise: it looks for all the world like a cut-down, but golden, version of his silver dollar design. [reference no. Judd 1577]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1878
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1980.0976.0001
- catalog number
- 1980.0976.0001
- accession number
- 1980.0976
- catalog number
- 80.63.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1873
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Bellicose head of Liberty with braided and coiled hair facing left; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle with shield, TRADE DOLLAR below.
- Congress decided to create a trade dollar to promote the use of silver mined in the United States for commerce in Asia. This was an unsuccessful contestant for design consideration for a trade dollar. William Barber designed the reverse. J. A. Bailly was responsible for the obverse. Specialists assign this coin with a Rarity-4 status which means that between 76 and 200 are estimated to exist.
- [reference no. Judd 1281]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1873
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2005
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2005
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Ten Dollars, Pattern, 1874
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty, date below. Reverse: Inscription about the coin's weight and metallic fineness in center, domestic denomination and foreign equivalents in surrounding cartouches. This pattern was part of the drive towards a coin with the potential for easy international acceptance.
- A dozen or so are known in copper, a few others in other metals. They are called Bickford patterns after Dana Bickford, who proposed the convertibility idea.
- [reference no. Judd 1375]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1874
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2016
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2016
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Fifty Dollars, Pattern, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coronet facing left; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle with shield, denomination below. William Barber, father of famed U.S. Mint designer Charles E. Barber, was the designer here. Perhaps ten copper patterns from this combination of dies including this specimen are known.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- obverse designer
- Barber, William
- reverse designer
- Barber, William
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2017
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2017
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Young head of Liberty, facing right; date below. Reverse: Eagle, facing left; denomination below. The piece was designed by George T. Morgan, and, while no more successful than any of his other designs, stands in marked contrast to them. Because of the youthful appearance of the Liberty head, this pattern was dubbed the "Schoolgirl" dollar, perhaps as early as the 1890s. The pattern enjoys a rating of low Rarity-7 with perhaps a dozen known. Interestingly, the reverse design was resurrected nearly four decades later, placed on the quarter eagle commemorative coin struck for the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
- [reference no. Judd 1608]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2050
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2050
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Four Dollars, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with flowing hair, facing left; fineness around, date below. Reverse: Large star, denomination below. This is the most common of the Stella patterns. The term Stella comes from the Latin word for star that formed the design on the reverse. It is estimated that 425 examples of this pattern exist. [reference no. Judd 1635]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2057
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2057
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 50 Dollars, 1877 (pattern)
- 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- maker
- U.S. Mint
- ID Number
- 1986.0836.0060
- accession number
- 1986.0836
- catalog number
- 1986.0836.0060
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Four Dollars, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coiled hair, facing left; fineness around, date below. Reverse: Large star, denomination below. 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
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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