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) 5 dollar coinUnited States, 1854Obverse Image: Left facing Liberty with hair tied in a bun and wearing a coronet.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 5 dollar coin
United States, 1854
Obverse Image: Left facing Liberty with hair tied in a bun and wearing a coronet. 13 stars around.
Obverse Text: LIBERTY / 1854
Reverse Image: Eagle with wings outstretched clutching arrows and branch in talons, shield over chest with vertical stripes on bottom part and horizontal stripes on top part.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FIVE D. / S
Description
The mint struck eagles and double eagles in some quantity (about 124,000 and 141,000, respectively). But it only minted a handful of quarter eagles (less than 250), and hardly more half eagles. The piece shown here is arguably the finest known. San Francisco expanded production in the next few years, adding silver coinage to the gold, and gradually assumed its position as a major producer of the nation's money.
Made of California gold, this rare coin was one of the first produced at the U.S. Mint branch in San Francisco. The mintmark, "S," is stamped on the reverse. California gold initially had to be shipped for coining to the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia, an expensive, slow, and risky undertaking. Meanwhile, private mints made coins that could be used in local markets. With the opening of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, gold could be converted quickly and efficiently into U.S. legal tender.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1854
issuing authority
U.S. Mint, San Francisco
designer
Gobrecht, Christian
ID Number
NU.68.159.0210
accession number
283645
catalog number
68.159.0210
When the nation's banks closed during the Depression, Leiter's Pharmacy in Pismo Beach, California, issued this clamshell as change.The 1929 stock market crash triggered banking panics, as people rushed to withdraw their savings before they were lost.
Description
When the nation's banks closed during the Depression, Leiter's Pharmacy in Pismo Beach, California, issued this clamshell as change.
The 1929 stock market crash triggered banking panics, as people rushed to withdraw their savings before they were lost. In March 1933, President Roosevelt ordered a four-day bank holiday to prevent further withdrawals. To compensate for the currency shortage, communities created emergency money, or scrip. This clamshell was signed as it changed hands and redeemed when cash became available again.
Location
Currently not on view
Date made
1933
used date
1933
referenced
Leiter's Pharmacy
ID Number
1979.1263.00467
accession number
1979.1263
catalog number
79.112.OC102A
One (1) 20 dollar coin, ultra high relief patternUnited States, 1907Obverse Image: Full-length Liberty holding a torch in her right hand and olive branch in left.
Description (Brief)
One (1) 20 dollar coin, ultra high relief pattern
United States, 1907
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 / MCMVII
Reverse Image: Eagle flying through rays of sun.
Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / TWENTY DOLLARS
Edge: E PLURIBUS UNUM divided by stars.
Description
Less than two dozen of these coins were struck. This kind of relief was never intended for a circulating coin, because it took nearly a dozen passes through the press to achieve. We should instead see these marvelous coins as testimony to the human spirit and to human curiosity: just how much relief could you obtain, and how long would it take to create it?
This ultra high relief twenty has pedigree as well as beauty in its favor. Presdient Theodore Roosevelt gave it to his daughter as a Christmas present in 1907. Augustus Saint-Gaudens had presented it to the president, and it may have been the first piece struck. Roosevelt's daughter donated this coin to the Smithsonian in 1961.
[reference no. Judd 1778]
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1907
designer
Saint-Gaudens, Augustus
mint
U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
ID Number
NU.NU71628
catalog number
NU71628
accession number
236191

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