50 Dollars, United States, 1877
50 Dollars, United States, 1877
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- Description
- Some twenty years after the private sector had abandoned the idea of a fifty-dollar gold piece in the mid-1850s, the Philadelphia Mint considered the possibility of a federal coin of this denomination. There was even talk of a "union," or hundred-dollar coin, and a drawing or two has survived to suggest what the Mint had in mind. But in the end, no such coin was ever produced.
- The project went a bit farther in the case of the "half-union." Dies were prepared, the work of William Barber (father of the eventual Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber).
- Barber's obverse and reverse designs look vaguely akin to Longacre's work for the double eagle. A few patterns were struck in copper and two in gold; the latter share a reverse die but each has a slightly different obverse die. The project was abandoned soon afterwards, as it became apparent that the new coin simply wasn't needed.
- Object Name
- coin
- pattern coin
- date made
- 1877
- maker
- U.S. Mint
- place made
- United States
- Physical Description
- gold (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall:.3 cm x 5.11 cm; 1/8 in x 2 in
- ID Number
- 1986.0836.0059
- accession number
- 1986.0836
- catalog number
- 1986.0836.0059
- Credit Line
- U.S. Department of the Treasury, United States Mint
- See more items in
- Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
- Legendary Coins
- Coins
- Numismatics
- Coins, Currency and Medals
- Exhibition
- The Value of Money
- Exhibition Location
- National Museum of American History
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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