The National Numismatic Collection is the national coin cabinet of the United States. The collection is part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
The National Numismatic Collection is the national coin cabinet of the United States. The collection is part of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
The National Numismatic Collection comprises approximately 1.6 million objects and is one of the world's largest and most diverse collections of coins, paper currency, medals, commodity currencies, financial instruments, exonumia, and related items. [1] As the collection of record for the U.S. monetary system, it holds the collections of the U.S. Mint, Treasury, and Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In addition, it includes collections donated by individual collectors and private institutions, such as the collection of the Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum. [2]
Until 2004, the exhibit housing the Collection was the last surviving exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History's original 1964 arrangement. In late 2004, the exhibit was closed, and the objects were returned to the Smithsonian's vaults. In 2015, the museum opened a new permanent Gallery of Numismatics with an exhibition titled The Value of Money.
Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects.
Federal Reserve Notes, also United States banknotes, are the currently issued banknotes of the United States dollar. The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces the notes under the authority of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and issues them to the Federal Reserve Banks at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Reserve Banks then circulate the notes to their member banks, at which point they become liabilities of the Reserve Banks and obligations of the United States.
Exonumia are numismatic items other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and other similar items. It is related to numismatics, and many coin collectors are also exonumists.
The United States ten-dollar bill ($10) is a denomination of U.S. currency. The obverse of the bill features the portrait of Alexander Hamilton, who served as the first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. The reverse features the U.S. Treasury Building. All $10 bills issued today are Federal Reserve Notes.
Large denominations of United States currency greater than $100 were circulated by the United States Treasury until 1969. Since then, U.S. dollar banknotes have only been issued in seven denominations: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
Gold certificates were issued by the United States Treasury as a form of representative money from 1865 to 1933. While the United States observed a gold standard, the certificates offered a more convenient way to pay in gold than the use of coins. General public ownership of gold certificates was outlawed in 1933 and since then they have been available only to the Federal Reserve Banks, with book-entry certificates replacing the paper form.
The doubloon was a two-escudo gold coin worth approximately $4 or 32 reales, and weighing 6.766 grams of 22-karat gold . Doubloons were minted in Spain and the viceroyalties of New Spain, Peru, and Nueva Granada. As the Spanish escudo succeeded the heavier gold excelente as the standard Spanish gold coin, the doubloon therefore succeeded the doble excelente or double-ducat denomination.
The Series of 1928 was the first issue of small-size currency printed and released by the U.S. government. These notes, first released to the public on July 10, 1929, were the first standardized notes in terms of design and characteristics, featuring similar portraits and other facets. These notes were also the first to measure 6.14" by 2.61", smaller than the large-sized predecessors of Series 1923 and earlier that measured 7.421 8" by 3.125".
The perper was the currency of Montenegro between 1906 and 1918. It was named the same as the medieval Serbian Empire official currency, and it was divided into 100 para.
The American Numismatic Society (ANS) is a New York City-based organization dedicated to the study of coins, money, medals, tokens, and related objects. Founded in 1858, it is the only American museum devoted exclusively to their preservation and study. Its collection encompasses nearly one million items, including medals and paper money, as well as the world's most comprehensive library of numismatic literature. The current President of the Society, Dr. Ute Wartenberg, served as the Executive Director for two decades and was succeeded in this role by Dr. Gilles Bransbourg.
Fractional currency, also referred to as shinplasters, was introduced by the United States federal government following the outbreak of the Civil War. These low-denomination banknotes of the United States dollar were in use between 21 August 1862 and 15 February 1876, and issued in denominations of 3, 5, 10, 15, 25, and 50 cents across five issuing periods. The complete type set below is part of the National Numismatic Collection, housed at the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Brasher Doubloon is a rare American doubloon of eight escudos worth sixteen dollars, privately minted in and after 1787.
Joseph Farran Zerbe was an American coin collector and dealer who was the president of the American Numismatic Association (ANA) in 1908 and 1909. He served as chief numismatist at the World's Fairs in St. Louis (1904), Portland (1905), and San Francisco (1915).
The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it into 100 cents, and authorized the minting of coins denominated in dollars and cents. U.S. banknotes are issued in the form of Federal Reserve Notes, popularly called greenbacks due to their predominantly green color.
Interest bearing notes refers to a grouping of Civil War era paper money-related emissions of the US Treasury. The grouping includes the one- and two-year notes authorized by the Act of March 3, 1863, which bore interest at five percent per annum, were a legal tender at face value, and were issued in denominations of $10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000. The grouping also frequently includes the early civil war treasury notes which matured in either sixty days or two years and bore interest at six percent and the seven-thirties which matured in three years and bore interest at 7.3 percent—though both of these latter issues lacked legal tender status. Reference texts used by currency collectors will also sometimes include compound interest treasury notes and Refunding Certificates in this grouping as well.
The Treasury Note was a type of representative money issued by the United States government from 1890 until 1893 under authority of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $1,000. It was issued in two series: an 1890 series with $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $100 and $1,000 denominations, and an 1891 series that added the $50 denomination. A $500 note was designed but never issued.
Rare Coin Wholesalers is a rare-coin company that specializes in United States rare coins. Located in Irvine, California, Rare Coin Wholesalers buys, sells, appraises and trades rare coins and precious metals. Originally established as a S.L. Contursi company in 1990, the owners have bought and sold over two billion dollars' worth of rare coins.
Gene Hessler is an American musician and numismatist, specialising in paper money.
The Chase Manhattan Bank Money Museum was a money museum in New York City from 1928 to 1977.
Elvira Eliza Clain-Stefanelli was a numismatist, director of the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, and advisor to the US Mint.
