National Numismatic Collection - Introduction
The National Numismatic Collection (NNC) of the Smithsonian Institution is one of the largest numismatic collections in the world and the largest in North America. With over 1.6 millioin objects, the NNC contains many great rarities in coins and currency, from the earliest coins created 2,700 years ago up to the latest innovations in electronic monetary exchange, as well as fascinating objects such as beads, wampum, dentalia, and other commodities once used as money.
The collection emphasizes the development of money and medals in the United States. The core of the U.S. collection, consisting of more than 18,000 items, including coins of great rarity, came to the Smithsonian in 1923 from the United States Mint. Exceptional rarities include the Brasher half doubloon, the 1849 double eagle (first of the gold 20 dollar pieces), and two 1877 fifty dollar patterns. Other rarities are include the 1913 Liberty head nickel as well as all three types of the 1804 dollar, and two of three known examples of the world's most valuable coin, the 1933 double eagle, the third of which recently sold for 7.6 million dollars. Learn more about the collection.
Below you will find a selection of over 350 objects from the collection. We are working to expand and improve online access to additional objects in the near future, so stay tuned.
"National Numismatic Collection - Introduction" showing 3 items.
Templeton Reid, 10 Dollars, 1830
- Description
- Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
- Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal.
- What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities. A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
- He later moved to Gainesville, which was closer to the gold mining district. His coins came in three denominations: ten dollars, five dollars, and two and one-half dollars, in recognition of "official" denominations. And he put slightly more gold into his products than the federal government did into its coins, just to be on the safe side.
- Although historians believe that Templeton Reid conducted business fairly, an unknown adversary, signing himself simply "no assayer," published several notices in newspapers complaining that the coins were not as represented.
- Rumors spread and before long Reid was forced to close up the business.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1830
- obverse designer
- Templeton Reid
- reverse designer
- Templeton Reid
- maker
- Templeton Reid
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1034
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.1185
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Ten Dollars, 1830 (Georgia-Templeton Reid)
- Description
- Produced by Templeton Reid in Milledgeville or Gainesville, Georgia. Obverse: Denomination, maker's name. Reverse: GEORGIA/GOLD in a circle of stars.
- Templeton Reid was a jack of all trades. In mid-1830, he gained immortality by becoming the first American since Ephraim Brasher to strike his own gold coins. Some of his ten-dollar pieces bear dates. Others, including this one, do not. Five dated pieces are known and only three undated ones.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1830
- maker
- Templeton Reid
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1033
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.1186
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Templeton Reid, 2 1/2 Dollars, 1830
- Description
- Before the famous California gold rush, several important strikes were made in the East: in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The earliest took place in Mecklenburg County, N.C., in 1799, where a nugget weighing several pounds was discovered. Its finder used it as a doorstop until someone recognized it for what it was! Discoveries multiplied, and a federal branch Mint was eventually set up in Charlotte to process the metal into coinage.
- Discoveries in Georgia and North Carolina in the 1820s received wide publicity, and a "gold fever" resulted. Thousands of people began trekking to the areas in search of instant wealth. Most returned home empty-handed, but successful prospectors found millions of dollars' worth of precious metal. What should they do with their new wealth? Many felt the Philadelphia Mint was too far away for safe travel, and the government wasn't ready to create other coining facilities.
- A jack-of-all-trades named Templeton Reid had an answer: strike private gold coins, at a private mint. Reid had extensive experience as a watchmaker, gunsmith, and metalworker. In July 1830, he set up shop in the Georgia hamlet of Milledgeville, and began his brief career as private moneyer-the first since Ephraim Brasher.
- Reid struck about a thousand of the $2.50 denomination. As with the larger $10 and $5 dollar denominations, most were later melted down and re-coined by the U.S. Mint. We can trace fewer than twenty-five survivors, including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1830
- maker
- Templeton Reid
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1031
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.1183
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center