I went into downtown Omaha, Nebraska today to the Durham Western Heritage Museum. My children were going to see the Nature Unleashed Exhibit and I was going to see the Byron Reed Collection. Byron Reed for those of you that don't know was a real estate agent in the middle and late 19th century. He was also a collector of many things to include coins, books, letters, etc. He formed an almost complete collection of U.S. coins from 1792 to 1890. Upon his death in 1891 he donated his entire collection to the city of Omaha, it was his over 2000 books that helped form the heart of the Omaha public library. The collection is hidden near the back of the museum and some of it is poorly lit, but nevertheless it is a truly stunning and magnificent display. All the coins save those in the "treasure chest" are on a rotating display so they may show the entire collection on a set schedule during the year as the collection contains more than 3,900 coins, medals, tokens, and pieces of currency. Just a few things on display are the Reed 1804 dollar graded PR-64, a half union pattern coin, a 1792 half disme, and a Libertas Medal. Sorry about the state of the pictures, I was doing the best I could with my little travel camera in low-lighting through glass display cases. Yeah, I could've spent the entire day doing nothing but taking photos of all the coins on display. I saw an 1877 proof shield nickel, only described as a 5 cent piece, several pieces of rare and exciting gold and other things. I will continue to return all summer long and take as many pictures as I can.
Wow, what an opportunity to view coins such as these, even if they are behind the glass. That half union Pattern and Libertas medal are spectacular.....
Very cool. Thanks for sharing those pics. I served as a chaperone for my son's class trip to Sturbridge Village (Mass) recently, and the bank there had a few old (late 1700's) coins behind glass (nothing in comparison to what you saw though). TC
I haven't decided what I like best at the exhibit yet, what I liked the most this trip was the chance to see another 1804 dollar. I've now seen 6 of the 15 dollars in person.
The Byron Reed collection used to be even better, but maybe fifteen years ago they sold off a lot of the early proof coins supposedly to raise funds for another part of the museum (but I suspect the city syphoned off part of the money) They said they would purchase lower grade specimens of the coins they sold in order to keep the collection complete but as far as I know they never purchased the replacement coins.
