The Smithsonian Museum Collection

I read a thread discussing the 1913 Liberty Nickel story and saw that one of the pieces were currently owned by the Smithsonian. I began to wonder what all pieces they had in their collection, so I searched their site. What I found was 18 pages of some of the finest and most unique coins I have ever seen. Each coin has a nice obverse & reverse photo as well as composition info and a brief background.

Enjoy!

http://collections.si.edu/search/re...pe=all&fq=object_type:"Coins+(money)"&start=0

 

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Some highlights include:

1974 Aluminum 1 Cent - Page 1
1776 Pewter Continental 1 Dollar - Page 8
1913 Liberty Nickel - Page 8
1794 Copper 1 Dollar Prototype (pop 1) - Page 9
1652 Pine Tree Shilling - Page 9
1879 $4 Stella - Page 12

 

That was one of the ones I really looked at as well! Can you edit your post to include the page number?

 

I love to go to the Smithsonian. Several years ago they had an entire section on the 2nd floor dedicated entirely to their coin/currency inventory. They had a separate area sectioned off that was entirely gold coins. It was amazing. They also had the their 1804 Dollars and the 1913 Nickel in a glassed in case. The most amazing gold coin on display. I thought, was the unique 1849 Proof Liberty $20 gold piece. That was an awesome coin.

 

I remember the old days at the Smithsonian when I was stationed there in late 1969 after Vietnam. Was in Army intelligence and we were spying on all the civilians that had the big sit-ins, etc in the open are there. Ah, the good old days....people wearing American flags at the outdoor concerts they had, lots of pot smoking. (not me, of course..I was still in the Army)

Anyway, I loved going to the museums and I remember they had the biggest exhibit of US money and I enjoyed looking at all the stuff I would never own. They also used to have a medical museum that that I believe moved to a base outside of DC....mind is drawing a blank right now....that had preserved specimens of every conceivable part of the body you could imagine, including fetuses at all varying stages and some cool Lincoln stuff from when we was assassinated and other memorable stuff.

Could you imagine how absolutely astounding and awesome it would be if they could devote a whole museum to all the money they have in their collection and put it on display?

 

Do I not recall correctly that they gave their collection of non-US coins to the ANS in NYC making the Smithsonian a non-player to those of us interested in ancients? Last time I was there (2008) the coins on display all fit in a small closet sized room including a couple ancients and a handful of US that more or less said that there were coins but they didn't care about them. When I visited in the 1970's, the display was huge and very well laid out.

 

I remember seeing a 1907 Extra High Relief Saint-Gaudens on display there.
It literally stopped me in my tracks.
I was set up beautifully.

 

The collection is not currently on display, I believe it due to a renovation but could be mistaken. They do have an exhibit on money but it's not of the caliber. At least that's what I deferred from my brief research of the site.

 

I believe I saw an article that said there is a new director/curator of the Smithsonian's collection.
If so, it's a work in progress.
New person > New ideas > New display

 

Do you any more information or is that just from memory? I'm curious as to when the new director/curator began or any other information that may elude to an estimate of reopen.

 

See here:

http://www.coinworld.com/news/ellen-feingold-new-curator-of-national-numismatic-collection.html

 

My son and I saw it a couple of years ago. Loved it! Really liked the aluminum cent! Would love to go back and see it again.

 

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Remember WE THE PEOPLE OWN THOSE COINS it's just kept in one place for all to enjoy.
I was there to see the collection and it was also one of the last days for the Rube Golberg display

 

Thanks for link I just went thru them all and I really like this one

 

I'm glad to know it is appreciated. They don't have to be on display to be appreciated.

 

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