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 185 items.
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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, Ten Dollars, 1803
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped bust of Liberty facing right; date below. Reverse: Heraldic eagle, stars and clouds above. This was designed by Robert Scot. Nearly nine thousand of these coins (whose reverse bears small stars rather than large ones) were coined during the second half of the year 1803. This coin may be the most perfectly preserved of them all.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1803
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*283645.0027
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0271
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, 1803
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped bust of Liberty facing right, eight stars behind her head and five stars before. Reverse: Heraldic eagle, clouds and stars above. The Mint struck over thirty-three thousand of these half eagles in 1803. All were made from dies originally dated 1802. This one is among the best preserved.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1803
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*283645.0028
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0164
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 1 Dollar, 1804 (Class One)
- Description
- The early dollars from the United States Mint were not instantly embraced by the public, which had become accustomed to the dollar's predecessor, the Spanish-American Piece of Eight. That coin contained slightly more silver than its new competitor.
- Then some entrepreneurs made an interesting discovery. They could buy American dollars, send them to the West Indies, and exchange them there at par for Spanish-American Pieces of Eight. Then they could bring the pesos home, turn them in to the Mint for melting, and make a profit by getting paid back in shiny new dollars.
- When the scheme was uncovered, it resulted in a thirty-year halt in dollar production, beginning in 1805. Some 19,570 dollars were coined in 1804, before the halt began. Interestingly, they weren't dated 1804, but 1803, thus avoiding the production of new dies. Although a common, cost-cutting policy at the early United States Mint, this act led to confusion years later, and to three legendary coins included in this exhibition.
- By the 1830s, American officials were actively exploring commercial opportunities elsewhere in the world. Seeking to influence foreign dignitaries, the Jackson administration instructed the Mint to create complete sets of specimen coins as gifts.
- The Philadelphia coiners did so for most other denominations without difficulty. But what to do about the silver dollar? They knew that 1804 dollars had been struck, but there didn't seem to be any survivors. So in November 1834, they created eight new 1804-dated dollars for the gift sets (later termed "class one" 1804 dollars).
- One of the eight became part of the set given to the Imam of Muscat, and another was sent to the King of Siam. And the other six? Within a few years, they escaped into private hands or entered circulation. And they became numismatic legends very quickly, for they had it all: mystery, intrigue, and tremendous rarity.
- Date made
- 1804
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1986.0836.0061
- catalog number
- 1986.0836.0061
- accession number
- 1986.0836
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 1 Dollar, 1804 (Class Two)
- Description
- If you look very closely at the reverse of this, the sole remaining "class two" 1804 dollar, you will discern a slight shifting of the relationship between the clouds and the lettering above them.
- This discrepancy, which distinguishes it from the "class one" and "class three" 1804 dollars, suggests that a new reverse die was employed to strike the coin. This new die was necessary because the old one had either been broken, rusted, or simply discarded after the coinage of 1834, when the class one dollars were struck.
- This coin was made a quarter-century later, by a group of enterprising coiners who had decided to go into the rarities business. In addition to making a new die, these midnight coiners had to have stock on which to use it. Instead of following the usual procedure of rolling out a strip of metal to the correct thickness, then blanking it to the correct size-a difficult and expensive process, they decided to start with an existing coin and overstrike it with the new die. That way the new coin would be of about the right weight and thickness. This coin shows traces of the original design: it began its life as a Swiss thaler dated 1857!
- When word got out about what was going on, the Mint Director swooped down on the miscreants. All their coins but this one were retrieved and ordered melted down. It remains: a somewhat tarnished, but still legendary rarity.
- Date made
- 1804
- mint
- U.S. Mint (unauthorized)
- ID Number
- 1986.0836.0062
- catalog number
- 1986.0836.0062
- accession number
- 1986.0836
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Two and a Half Dollars, 1808
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Draped bust of liberty facing left, wearing a Liberty cap; thirteen stars; date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto E PLURIBUS UNUM on ribbon above; denomination below. This coin was designed by recent German immigrant John Reich. This quarter eagle design was only produced for one year. Fewer than three thousand quarter eagles of this type were struck.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1808
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.00266
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.00266
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01530
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, 1810
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Draped bust of Liberty facing left, wearing a Liberty cap; thirteen stars. Reverse: Eagle, motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, denomination below. Designed by John Reich, pieces such as this were struck between 1807 and 1812. There are several minor varieties. This coin, featuring a large date and large denomination, is one of the more common varieties. However, this variety is not often found in such superb condition.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1810
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0135
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0135
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, 1812
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Draped bust of Liberty facing left, wearing a Liberty cap; thirteen stars. Reverse: Eagle, motto E PLURIBUS UNUM, denomination below. Early United States gold coin bearing this date and denomination are surprisingly common. However, this piece is distinctly uncommon due to its superb condition.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1812
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0145
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0145
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, 1815
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. vObverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left; thirteen stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. For reasons unknown, designer John Reich's earlier bust of Liberty was abandoned in favor of a crude, almost ugly head. Reich seems to have been responsible for the coins struck with the new design from 1813 to 1815. Then Robert Scot made a trite design worse by coarsening Liberty's hair and retouching her cap. Thus amended, the Reich/Scot half eagles remained in production through 1829.
- Most were melted, as the gold they contained eventually became worth more than their face value. The 1815 half eagle started out rare (only 635 minted) and became rarer as the coins were melted down. Perhaps a dozen remain including this one.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1815
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*283645.0054
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0183
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
5 dollar
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left; thirteen stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. John Reich seems to have been responsible for the first coins struck with the design seen here during the years from 1813 to 1815. Then Robert Scot made a trite design worse by coarsening Liberty's hair and retouching her cap. Thus amended, the Reich/Scot half eagles remained in production through 1829. Most were melted, as the gold the half eagles contained eventually became worth more than the coins' face value. The 1815 half eagle started out rare (only 635 minted) and became even rarer. This coin is one of a dozen survivors of the practice of melting the coins to recover the gold in addition to those simply lost over time.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1815
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0157
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0157
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center