Coins, Currency, and Medals - Overview
The Museum possesses one of the largest numismatic collections in the world. The collections include over 1 million objects, comprising coins, medals, decorations, and pieces of paper money. Among the many great rarities here are some of the world’s oldest coins, created 2,700 years ago. But the collection also includes the latest innovations in electronic monetary exchange, as well as beads, wampum, and other commodities once used as money. A special strength lies in artifacts that illustrate the development of money and medals in the United States. The American section includes many rare and significant coins, such as two of three known examples of the world's most valuable coin, the 1933 double eagle $20 gold piece.
"Coins, Currency, and Medals - Overview" showing 11 items.
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United States, 10 Dollars, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Capped Liberty head facing left, date below. Reverse: Eagle, denomination below. This pattern was designed by artist George T. Morgan. Most patterns he designed came to look like his one successful, circulating coin, the silver dollar that bears his name. It has been estimated that between seven and twelve patterns like this one exist in copper. No mention has been found of a gilt copper piece elsewhere. [reference no. Judd 1545]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.01045
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.01045
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01280
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coronet facing left, date below. Reverse: Denomination in a cereal wreath. William Barber designed this pattern. Only a half-dozen,including this one, are known. [reference no. Judd 1544]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1979.1263.01046
- catalog number
- 1979.1263.01046
- accession number
- 1979.1263
- catalog number
- 01279
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Five Dollars, Pattern, 1878
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Head of Liberty facing left, wearing cap. Reverse: Eagle, denomination below. The fact that this pattern was designed by George T. Morgan comes as no surprise: it looks for all the world like a cut-down, but golden, version of his silver dollar design. [reference no. Judd 1577]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1878
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1980.0976.0001
- catalog number
- 1980.0976.0001
- accession number
- 1980.0976
- catalog number
- 80.63.1
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1873
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Bellicose head of Liberty with braided and coiled hair facing left; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle with shield, TRADE DOLLAR below.
- Congress decided to create a trade dollar to promote the use of silver mined in the United States for commerce in Asia. This was an unsuccessful contestant for design consideration for a trade dollar. William Barber designed the reverse. J. A. Bailly was responsible for the obverse. Specialists assign this coin with a Rarity-4 status which means that between 76 and 200 are estimated to exist.
- [reference no. Judd 1281]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1873
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2005
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2005
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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, Fifty Dollars, Pattern, 1877
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coronet facing left; stars around, date below. Reverse: Eagle with shield, denomination below. William Barber, father of famed U.S. Mint designer Charles E. Barber, was the designer here. Perhaps ten copper patterns from this combination of dies including this specimen are known.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1877
- obverse designer
- Barber, William
- reverse designer
- Barber, William
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2017
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2017
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, One Dollar, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Young head of Liberty, facing right; date below. Reverse: Eagle, facing left; denomination below. The piece was designed by George T. Morgan, and, while no more successful than any of his other designs, stands in marked contrast to them. Because of the youthful appearance of the Liberty head, this pattern was dubbed the "Schoolgirl" dollar, perhaps as early as the 1890s. The pattern enjoys a rating of low Rarity-7 with perhaps a dozen known. Interestingly, the reverse design was resurrected nearly four decades later, placed on the quarter eagle commemorative coin struck for the Panama-Pacific Exposition.
- [reference no. Judd 1608]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2050
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2050
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Four Dollars, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with flowing hair, facing left; fineness around, date below. Reverse: Large star, denomination below. This is the most common of the Stella patterns. The term Stella comes from the Latin word for star that formed the design on the reverse. It is estimated that 425 examples of this pattern exist. [reference no. Judd 1635]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2057
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2057
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Fifty Cents, Pattern, 1875
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Seated Liberty, date below. Reverse: Eagle; motto above, denomination below. This is actually a "trial piece," a coin struck in soft metal from regular dies intended for circulating coinage. Two or three exist in aluminum including this one. [reference no. Judd 1419]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1875
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- NU*246796.0004
- accession number
- 246796
- catalog number
- NU70723
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, Four Dollars, Pattern, 1879
- Description
- United States Mint, Philadelphia. Obverse: Liberty head with coiled hair, facing left; fineness around, date below. Reverse: Large star, denomination below. This pattern rates a Rarity-6 by experts, suggesting that two dozen or so may exist. [reference no. Judd 1638]
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1879
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- designer
- Morgan, George T.
- ID Number
- NU*283645.1022
- catalog number
- 283645.1022
- accession number
- 283645
- catalog number
- 68.159.0149
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center