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 199 items.
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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
United States, Fifty Cents, Planchet, 1816
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. A fire at the Mint in January 1816 brought silver and gold coinage to a halt for months. No 1816 half dollars were struck. Someone letter-punched this planchet by hand by way of commemoration.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1816
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*244872.0008
- accession number
- 244872
- catalog number
- 244872.0008
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, New England One Shilling, (1652)
- Description
- Produced at John Hull's private mint in Boston. Obverse: Script NE (for New England). Reverse: XII for twelve pence, or one shilling. Boston was founded in 1630. Within two decades, it had become a prosperous, thriving community, engaging in legal trade with the mother country and clandestine trade with Spanish America.
- Perpetually short of coinage, the proper Bostonians came up with an unorthodox idea: they would take a portion of the silver coming in from the south, melt it down, and make coins from it. Their first efforts were modest. They recast the silver, beat it into thin sheets, then cut more-or-less round blanks from it. The blanks were struck with simple designs, once on each side.
- The resulting coins were fairly easy to counterfeit. They were very easy to clip off some of the metal (and a portion of their value would be thereby removed). Embarrassed bureaucrats soon legislated more sophisticated designs that took up all of each side of the coin.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1652
- maker
- Massachusetts Bay Colony
- ID Number
- 1982.0798.0001
- catalog number
- 1982.0798.0001
- accession number
- 1982.0798
- catalog number
- 82.798.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, Proof, 1821
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. Seven quarter eagle proofs are known for the year 1821, but only two proof half eagles are known for this year. This coin is one of them.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1821
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0177
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0177
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Two and a Half Dollars, Proof, 1821
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. In this design, Robert Scot's pedestrian head replaced John Reich's more artistic design of 1808. This coin is one of a handful of proofs struck in this year and in those years immediately after. Proof coins are specimen strikes for the record, for sale or trade, or for distribution to dignitaries in presentation sets. Proof coinage did not become popular or plentiful in the United States until after the Civil War. Therefore, proofs like this one that date from as early as the 1820s and 1830s are among America's most legendary coins.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1821
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0178
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0178
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Cent, Proof, 1823
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coronet facing left, thirteen stars surrounding, date below. Reverse: Denomination within a single wreath. Robert Scot created these designs, which remained in use between 1816 and 1835.
- Cents of this type are likely to have been seen by almost every collector for they are among the most common of early American coins. But this coin is not common. The year 1823 is one of the scarcer dates in the cent series. In addition, this coin is an "overdate." It was created from an earlier die (for 1822 cents) that was softened, redated for the current year, hardened, and put back into service. Overdates are quite common among early American coins, as a fledgling United States Mint tried to cut corners wherever it could.
- Finally, this coin is a "proof." It was struck on a highly polished planchet (a disk of metal cut and prepared for striking as a coin) under far more exacting standards than ordinary coins. It has been estimated that only two other proof 1823/2 cents exist.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1823
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0192
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0192
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Two and a Half Dollars, Proof, 1824
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. This is one of six proof quarter eagles known for 1824.
- The obverse die used for this coin was first dated 1821. The die was redated three years later to produce a handful of proofs dated 1824. Collectors call such coins "overdates."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1824
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1988.0063.0078
- catalog number
- 1988.0063.0078
- accession number
- 1988.0063
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, Proof, 1825
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. The obverse die for this proof was created in 1821, then recycled for the production of proof coins a few years later. The coin it produced is called an overstruck 1825 coin, or 1825/1 (1825 over 1821) in technical terms. This is one of two known 1825/1 proof half eagles. Two 1825/4 (1825 over 1824) coins made with a recycled 1824 die have also been discovered.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1825
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0199
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0199
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Two and a Half Dollars, Proof, 1825
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped head of Liberty facing left, stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle, motto above, denomination below. Perhaps three proofs including this one exist in this denomination exist for 1825. All of the early proof coins in the National Numismatic Collection came to the Smithsonian Institution as a result of the transfer from the U.S. Mint during the 1920s.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1825
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1988.0063.0066
- catalog number
- 1988.0063.0066
- accession number
- 1988.0063
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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