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 48 items.
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United States, 5 Dollars, 1838
- Description
- This coin may be one of those minted from the bequest that James Smithson left to the United States for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson was born in 1765 as the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate. Elizabeth Keate had been married to James Macie, and so Smithson first bore the name of James Lewis Macie.
- His mother later married Mark Dickinson, by whom she had another son. When she died in 1800, he and his half-brother inherited a sizable estate. He changed his name at this time from "Macie" to "Smithson."
- James Smithson died June 27, 1829, in Genoa, Italy. His will left his fortune to his nephew, son of his half-brother, but stipulated that if that nephew died without children (legitimate or illegitimate), the money should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." The nephew, Henry Hungerford Dickinson, died without heirs in 1835, and Smithson's bequest was accepted in 1836 by the United States Congress.
- James Smithson never visited the United States, and the reason for his generous bequest is unknown. The gift was the foundation grant for the Smithsonian Institution. The British gold coins in Smithson's bequest were quickly carried to the Philadelphia Mint, where they were melted down and recycled into American gold coins.
- Most of the new coins were half eagles or five-dollar pieces. On the obverse, they have a left-facing Liberty head, her hair bound with a ribbon; on the reverse is a simple, unexceptional eagle with denomination.
- The original design was the product of a German immigrant named John Reich, substantially altered by a second artist named William Kneass, tweaked again by another German immigrant, Christian Gobrecht. James Smithson's gold, now recycled into new, Americ
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1838
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.0293
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.0293
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 10 Dollars, 1908
- Description
- In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt asked sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to lead an effort to redesign American coinage. Saint-Gaudens developed a concept that many consider the most beautiful American coin ever conceived.
- In addition to this $20 Dollar coin, Saint-Gaudens also redesigned the $10 coin, or eagle, but did not live to see this effort through to completion. With Saint-Gaudens's passing, the eagle project was entrusted to Chief Engraver Barber.
- There was little he could do to bowdlerize the artist's original: Saint-Gaudens had put most of his efforts for high relief coinage into the double eagle. His ten-dollar piece offered modest innovations in terms of its relief, but it didn't awake Barber's opposition to the extent that the double eagle design had. The redesigned eagle was struck through early 1933, essentially in the form in which Saint-Gaudens had created it.
- There was one innovation in mid-1908. Theodore Roosevelt frowned on the inclusion of the motto "In God We Trust," on American money. He said religion and commerce didn't mix. So neither the new double eagle nor the new eagle bore the traditional inscription for the first year or so. But Roosevelt would soon be on his way out of office and the motto was reinstituted on both coins. This coin is one of the earlier "godless" ones. When the motto returned, it appeared before the eagle's breast on the reverse.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1908
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.1286
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.1286
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Great Britain, Gold Sovereign, 1838
- Description
- This coin is one of those used to convey James Smithson's bequest to the United States for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson was born in 1765 as the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate.
- Elizabeth Keate had been married to James Macie, and so Smithson first bore the name of James Lewis Macie. His mother later married Mark Dickinson, by whom she had another son. When she died in 1800, he and his half-brother inherited a sizable estate. He changed his name at this time from "Macie" to "Smithson."
- James Smithson died June 27, 1829, in Genoa, Italy. His will left his fortune to his nephew, son of his half-brother, but stipulated that if that nephew died without children (legitimate or illegitimate), the money should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
- The nephew, Henry Hungerford Dickinson, died without heirs in 1835, and Smithson's bequest was accepted in 1836 by the United States Congress. Smithson never visited the United States, and the reason for his generous bequest is unknown. The gift was the foundation grant for the Smithsonian Institution.
- The Smithson bequest consisted of 104,960 gold sovereigns. Presumably they all bore the head of the new Queen Victoria, who had acceded to the throne in 1837.
- The United States insisted on new sovereigns rather than circulated ones for a very practical reason: the United States would get more gold that way. All but two coins were melted down, reminted as American coins, and spent. The last two originals are in the Smithsonian collection.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1838
- ruler
- Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India
- maker
- American Type Founders Company
- Great Britain
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.1579
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.1579
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- catalog number
- 85.441.1579
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1906 (pattern)
- Description
- In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt initiated a project to redesign American coinage and commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to create the new designs. While the two had admirable goals, they committed the unpardonable bureaucratic sin--they had not "gone through channels." The Mint already had an artist, Charles E. Barber, and it would have been his job to redesign coinage if that was what the president wanted. Barber was unhappy with the president's new project, complained to anyone who'd listen, and finally decided to do something about it. He would design his own double eagle, and he would get it done before Saint-Gaudens completed his.
- Barber was in an unusual hurry. His single surviving pattern double eagle, shown here, is unusual in American numismatics, and one of the least successful artistically. For the obverse, Barber featured a Liberty head with a Phrygian cap and a laurel wreath, inspired by contemporary French artists. For his reverse, he recycled some of his own earlier work. Back in 1891, he had created a pattern half dollar, the obverse of which had featured Liberty with a sword and a Liberty cap on a pole. Liberty was guarding an eagle, the symbol of America. Now, this old design appeared on the reverse of the new coin. Thus Barber's proposal had two Liberties, one on each side. Roosevelt was unimpressed. Saint-Gaudens went on with his work, and Barber continued to fume.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1906
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- maker
- Barber, Charles
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2095
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2095
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 10 Dollars, 1907 (pattern)
- Description
- In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt asked sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to lead an effort to redesign American coinage. Saint-Gaudens developed a design that many consider the most beautiful American coin ever conceived. In addition to this $20 coin, Saint-Gaudens also redesigned this $10 coin, or eagle. Although the design has always been considered subordinate to his design for the $20 coin, it deserves close scrutiny. It bears witness to the labors of a gifted artist, working in ill health and under great pressure, and creating beauty almost at his final moment.
- Saint-Gaudens was working against time and knew it. By the time he turned his attention to the ten-dollar coin, he was already gravely ill, with only a few months to live. So he recycled some earlier ideas. He reused a head of Victory that he had originally created for the Sherman Monument in New York City, adding a war bonnet. The result was fanciful, and Saint-Gaudens's logical equation of Liberty with a Native American was no more convincing than Longacre's version on the Indian Head cent.
- But from an artistic point of view, it worked. The eagle on the reverse was also recycled, this time from President Roosevelt's inaugural medal. The coin shown here was struck in modest quantity-about thirty-two thousand pieces. However, all but forty-two were ultimately melted down.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1907
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2097
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2097
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1907 (pattern)
- Description
- In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt asked sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to redesign American coinage. As Saint-Gaudens began work on the project, there was never any possibility that he would restrict himself to well-traveled artistic paths. Playing it safe was against his nature and that of the president for whom he toiled.
- As a result of Saint-Gaudens's vision and Roosevelt's persistence, Americans got their most beautiful double eagle, one of the most artistic pieces of money ever struck. Instead of a head or a static, seated goddess, Saint-Gaudens's Lady Liberty strides towards us, the dawn at her back. She represents the morning of the Republic, full of possibilities and hope.
- She bears a torch in her right hand, an olive branch in her left: offerings of freedom and peace. The law said that Saint-Gaudens had to use an eagle for his reverse design, and so he did. But what an eagle! Nothing like it had ever been seen before. The naturalistic bird, in such high relief that it threatens to soar out of the circular space that seeks to enclose it, is all movement and grace.
- Saint-Gaudens and his patron surely knew that this coin was impossible to make in mass quantities. The high relief came at a high price: it took nine blows from the hydraulic coining press to strike each one. Charles E. Barber, the Mint's chief engraver, strenuously objected out of jealousy, but he had a point.
- This is no way to make money for mass circulation. But to Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens, the chief engraver and other critics lacked vision. This ultra-high relief double eagle was intended to show what artistry and technology could do when afforded the chance. Fewer than two dozen of the ultra-high relief coins were minted, in February and March of 1907.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1907
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2098
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2098
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
United States, 20 Dollars, 1907 (experimental)
- Description
- Someone once observed that a giraffe was a horse designed by a committee. The same might be said of this coin: what had seemed a good idea around a table in the boardroom proved to be an interesting but spectacular flop as it neared production.
- The coin resulted from a project that President Theodore Roosevelt began in 1905 to redesign American coinage. He commissioned sculptor August Saint-Gaudens to create the new designs, and Saint-Gaudens developed a plan for an ultra-high relief $20 coin. The coin here, which appears to have been struck early in 1907, followed Saint-Gaudens' basic designs, but there the similarities ended.
- This experimental coin contained twenty dollars' worth of gold, but it was squeezed into a coin the width of a ten-dollar piece. The discrepancy was handled by making the patterns much thicker than ordinary coins. Staff at the Mint wondered whether it was possible to decrease the diameter to have the best of both worlds: a coin in glorious high relief that didn't take quite as many blows of the press to create. The experiment failed. Although the patterns were unacceptable for commerce, word of their existence leaked out to the collecting community. An exasperated Mint Director wanted them called in and melted down. Somehow two escaped. Both are in the Smithsonian Collection.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1907
- mint
- U.S. Mint, Philadelphia
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2100
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2100
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oregon Exchange Company, 10 Dollars, 1849
- Description
- In 1848, the largest single gold rush in history was just getting under way in California. This event soon triggered a mass migration of fortune hunters from around the world. At the outset, much of the California gold was converted to coins by private minters in the San Francisco area. However, supplies of gold were also sent to Philadelphia where the metal was turned into ordinary federal coins.
- Smaller quantities of gold made it to various locations including Oregon. Between March and September, 1849, an entity calling itself the Oregon Exchange Company struck $10 and $5 coins, by hand, in Oregon City. Both denominations bore simple designs. Their obverses depicted a beaver, the fur-bearing mammal that had spurred the first interest in the region. Above the animal, there were initials standing for the last names of the principal players in the operation.
- The initials O.T. or T.O. (both for Oregon Territory) and the date rounded out the obverse design. For the reverse, the name of the issuing authority and the denomination sufficed. Scholars believe that around 2,850 of the $10 coins were made. Dies for them can still be seen at the Oregon Historical Society in Portland.
- But the life of the Oregon mint was brief. The coiners set their products' weight above federal norms, and most of the Oregon coinage was melted down for profit. The mint ceased operation early in September 1849.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- maker
- United States Mint
- Oregon Exchange Company
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2216
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2216
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Oregon Exchange Company, 5 Dollars, 1849
- Description
- In 1848, the largest single gold rush in history was just getting under way in California. This event soon triggered a mass migration of fortune hunters from around the world. At the outset, much of the California gold was converted to coins by private minters in the San Francisco area. However, supplies of gold were also sent to Philadelphia where it was made into ordinary federal coins.
- Smaller quantities of gold made it to various locations including Oregon. Between March and September, 1849, an entity calling itself the Oregon Exchange Company struck $10 and $5 coins, by hand, in Oregon City. Both denominations bore simple designs. Their obverses depicted a beaver, the fur-bearing mammal that had spurred the first interest in the region.
- Above the animal, there were initials standing for the last names of the principal players in the operation. The initials O.T. or T.O. (both for Oregon Territory) and the date rounded out the obverse design. For the reverse, the name of the issuing authority and the denomination sufficed. Dies for the coins can still be seen at the Oregon Historical Society headquarters in Portland.
- But the life of the Oregon mint was brief. The coiners set their products' weight above federal norms, and most of the Oregon coinage was melted down for profit. The mint ceased operation early in September 1849.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1849
- maker
- Oregon Exchange Company
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2217
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2217
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Clark, Gruber & Co., 20 Dollars, 1860
- Description
- A decade or so after the California Gold Rush began in the late 1840s, gold was discovered on the South Platte River, near the future city of Denver. As with the earlier strike, this one occasioned disputes over the value and purity of gold dust, as well as great difficulties in getting the precious metal all the way to Philadelphia to be coined there, and shipped back again.
- Matters would be greatly simplified if a coiner, either private or public, could set up shop near the gold fields. A good candidate existed-Clark, Gruber & Co. Up to now, the firm had acted as brokers, bankers, and assayers. But if a coinage was wanted, Austin and Milton Clark and Emmanuel Gruber were up to the challenge and had the resources to do it right.
- Milton Clark went back East to get the necessary machinery, three lots were purchased in Denver, and a two-story brick building soon went up on the property. Trial strikes of the four denominations to be coined ($2.50, $5, $10, and $20) were ready for inspection by mid-July 1860, and formal coinage began about a week after that.
- One of the firm's most famous products showed a marvelous, if unrealistic, image of Pikes Peak, beneath which Denver-and the Clark, Gruber enterprise-sat. The facility remained in operation through 1862, although all of its coins were dated 1860 and 1861. It was elbowed out of the coining business in April 1863. It turned first into a federal assay office, then 43 years later, into another branch of the United States Mint.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1860
- mint
- Clark, Gruber & Co.
- ID Number
- 1985.0441.2226
- catalog number
- 1985.0441.2226
- accession number
- 1985.0441
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center