I went to see the Legendary Coin exhibit at the Smithsonian

[jtryka]

Well, I was in Washington for work yesterday, so I decided to fly in Sunday and spend the afternoon sightseeing. My first stop was the Smithsonian Castle to see the Legendary Coin exhibit. It was truly amazing to see some of those pieces, with a very overweighted emphasis on Saint-Gaudens' coinage! There were examples of the high relief and low releif Indian eagles, there were two URH Saints which were amazing! The rims on those coins were literally twice as thick as a regular Saint, which should give you an idea of the depth of relief. There were regular high relief Saints, a matte proof 1908 Saint, and the small diameter pattern double eagle, which was the size of an eagle but twice as thick (very cool, but I like the full diameter better). There was a 1927-D Saint, but no 1933. They also had a pattern double eagle from 1906 designed by Charles Barber, which was a nice coin, but fell pretty far short of the Saint-Gaudens design.

 

In other gold there were some territorial pieces from the Oregon Trading Company, Templeton Reid, and Pike's peak. Of course there was the unique 1849 double eagle, a gorgeous proof. There was a California quarter eagle, a C-mint classic head half eagle that was gorgeous! A couple of $50 slugs including an Octagonal US Assay Office issue and a Kellogg, and two pattern 1877 Half unions, which were astounding! The territorial slugs were somewhat thicker, so the coin wasn't dramatically larger in diameter than the double eagle. The pattern half unions appeared to be the same thickness as a double eagle and as a result were enormous in diameter! They were larger than any coin I'd ever seen, with nearly 2.5 oz. of gold. Very cool.

 

There were also some other coins, all three classes of 1804 dollar, a 1794 dollar, a nice exhibit of continental currency, the 1913 Libert Nickel, a pine tree shilling, a 1974 aluminum cent, and a Brasher dabloon. All extremely cool to see in person.

 

Later in the day I also went to the Museum of American history where there was an exhibit of the Presidents and there were two numismatically interesting items, the first was an exhibit of peace medals sent to the Indians, including the one that graces the reverse of the 2004 nickel. Then there were some coins from Eisenhower's collection, I was not aware than he collected coins. On display was a 1799 silver dollar, a Morgan dollar, an Oregon Trail commemorative half, several liberty seated quarters, a couple of three cent nickels and some indian head cents. Overall a very fun afternoon!

[MunkyMan95]

Sounds like you had a great time! I really need to go to the smithsonian...

[zrlevin]

Sounds like you had fun! Why wasn't the 1933 on display?

 

My parents are taking me in a few weeks, I can't wait!

 

Zach

[IGWT]

Sounds like a great day!

[shirohniichan]

There were also some other coins, all three classes of 1804 dollar, a 1974 dollar, a nice exhibit of continental currency, the 1913 Libert Nickel, a pine tree shilling, a 1974 aluminum cent, and a Brasher dabloon.

 

Pardon my ignorance of pocket change... er, modern coins, but what's the story with the 1974 dollar?

[MunkyMan95]

I was thinking the same.

[jtryka]

There were also some other coins, all three classes of 1804 dollar, a 1974 dollar, a nice exhibit of continental currency, the 1913 Libert Nickel, a pine tree shilling, a 1974 aluminum cent, and a Brasher dabloon.

 

Pardon my ignorance of pocket change... er, modern coins, but what's the story with the 1974 dollar?

 

WHoops! That is a typo, it was a 1794 dollar (i.e. the first one). I'll fix it.

 

As for the 1933 Saint, I don't know why it wasn't displayed (they have two of them), but at least it was nice to see the 27-D.

[IGWT]

WHoops! That is a typo, it was a 1794 dollar (i.e. the first one). I'll fix it.

 

Those of us with dyslexia knew what you meant.

[Hoot]

Terrific day Jeff!

 

Hoot

[RWB]

After July 4, 2006 you will also be able to go to the Smithsonian American Art Museum (Gallery Place metro stop) and examine over 100 of Anthony deFrancisci's sample medals (including two superbly struck, totally ruined 1921 Peace dollars) and plaster models including the ones for his 1938 Jefferson nickel.

 

The NNC exhibit will be in place for the next 3 years. It represents less than 0.01% of the NNC holdings. If you walk across the street from Union Station you will find the very nice Postal Museum - but no Coin and Currency Museum....

[HaydenTubbs]

Sounds like you had a great time Jeff. My family is heading up to DC this fall,and I can't wait to check out the Smithsonian!

 

 

Hayden

[McKinley-migration]

are you allowed to take pictures? didja git any...?

 

i wonder why an ol' '33 wasnt on display

[Oldtrader3]

Jeff, nice write-up. I went to the Smithsonian Museum about 20 years ago. I did not see the 1933 dollar either. I wonder if they normally do not display it?

[jtryka]

Yes, you are certainly free to take pictures, but I did not have a camera with me. You would have to take them through the glass on the cases. There were two young Asian ladies there next to me taking pictures of one of the coins and I told them to make sure and take a photo of the 1849 double eagle as that was the most valuable coin in the world. So they took my advice and seemed quite pleased.

 

I saw the display of the NNC back when I went to the Smithsonian in 1995 or 1996. It seems like it was buried in the museum of American History, and the coins were on boards fixed at an angle, affixed with wax, and under glass. The breadth of the display was much greater, but the display itself was horrible considering the value of the coins presented. At that time I saw both 1933 double eagles on display. As for why they are no longer included, maybe that's a good question for NGC since they and NCS helped with the display.

[DWLange]

I suspect that the 1933 $20 pieces are a sensitive subject right now, with the feds having seized the ten examples that recently surfaced.

[RGT]

I was going to say that the '33's are much too common these days to be included in the display.

[supertooth]

Jeff---- Was just a young kid when I first visited the Smithsonian. I remember a very old building where the floors were all wood----some sort of Biology building. A real fire trap. Rows and rows of glass jars---without saying, it was stuff that in these days and times would never be displayed----for a 100 different reasons. I loved it---as the doctor thinking was already in place. Then, I met Barb [my future wife] when I was 16. At about 17 [1964] I was on a church bus trip with her to the Smithsonian. I am not sure when the Natural History Bldg. went up? It was sometime around then. But over the next few years, we went there a number of times. What was funny was that---when we got there, I would head to look at the gold pieces and such. Never saw the folks till lunch---went back and looked at coins after lunch. They found me when it was time to head home. I had not been there in many years when I read in Coin World that it was closing. It really hit me hard and right in the gut. It is one of the things that I feel really bad about---even though I hadn't been there in such a long time. I am certain that those coins had a profound influence on me and was a definite reason that I started to collect CC20 dollar gold. Shame that our government saw fit to remove it from the viewing public. Bob [supertooth]