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.

Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
ID Number
2009.0005.063
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.063
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
ID Number
2009.0005.061
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.061
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1971
ID Number
2009.0005.064
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.064
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.103
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.103
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
Associated Name
Gasparro, Frank
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
maker
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.022
catalog number
2009.0005.022
accession number
2009.0005
The collection: The Art of Frank Gasparro offers a rare opportunity to follow the process of a twentieth century commercial artist as he developed coin designs from rough sketches to fine plaster models, to the coins that jingle in our pockets daily.
Description (Brief)
The collection: The Art of Frank Gasparro offers a rare opportunity to follow the process of a twentieth century commercial artist as he developed coin designs from rough sketches to fine plaster models, to the coins that jingle in our pockets daily. Frank Gasparro was the tenth United States Mint Chief Engraver; perhaps most recognized for his design of the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse side of the cent that replaced the previous design, two ears of wheat. Douglas Martin of The New York Times quoted Christina Hansen (Gasparro’s daughter) in Gasparro’s obituary, “Frank Gasparro, 92, of Mint; Art Is on 100 Billion Pennies," October 3, 2001, “…he originally aspired to make sculptures like those of Rodin and Michelangelo, but came to take pride in his billions of lowly pennies. He was known to show cashiers the reverse side of a penny and announce that he had designed it.”
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
depicted (sitter)
Gasparro, Frank
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.024
catalog number
2009.0005.024
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.023
catalog number
2009.0005.023
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.104
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.104
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
maker
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.027
catalog number
2009.0005.027
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1970
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.062
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.062
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1971
ID Number
2009.0005.065
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.065
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
maker
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.026
catalog number
2009.0005.026
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
Associated Name
Gasparro, Frank
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.021
catalog number
2009.0005.021
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
maker
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.028
catalog number
2009.0005.028
accession number
2009.0005
In this photograph Frank Gasparro (in the foreground) holds a plaster model for his proposed dollar coin design of the Flowing Hair Liberty with Phrygian cap (liberty cap.) In the background are two other models of his design.
Description (Brief)
In this photograph Frank Gasparro (in the foreground) holds a plaster model for his proposed dollar coin design of the Flowing Hair Liberty with Phrygian cap (liberty cap.) In the background are two other models of his design. The first illustrates Mary Brooks, 31st director of the United States Mint, 1969—1977 the other is unidentified. The photographer is unknown.
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1977
original artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.025
catalog number
2009.0005.025
accession number
2009.0005
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1965-1990
ID Number
2009.0005.066
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.066
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1975-1990
artist
Gasparro, Frank
ID Number
2009.0005.105
accession number
2009.0005
catalog number
2009.0005.105

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