20th Century Type Set

Cents

INDIAN HEAD CENT, 1859-1909

Designed by James B. Longacre. At times, during the civil War, it was the only U.S. coin circulating. The first Indian cents were made of copper-nickel alloy from 1859-1864.

LINCOLN CENT-WHEAT EARS REVERSE, 1909-1958

Designed by Victor D. Brenner to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. The first regular issue coin to feature an actual person rather than a personification of the goddess Liberty.

LINCOLN CENT-MEMORIAL REVERSE, 1959-PRESENT

New reverse designed by Frank Gasparro to commemorate the 1 50th Anniversary of Lincoln’s birth, showing the Lincoln Memorial constructed in Washington, D.C., in the 1920’s. This same design is shown on the back of the $5.00 bill.

Nickels

LIBERTY HEAD FIVE CENTS, 1883-1913

Designed by Charles Barber, who used the Roman numeral “V,’ to signify “5”. Only five 1913 coins of this type were made by a dishonest mint employee who produced the coin himself after regular working hours.

INDIAN HEAD or “BUFFALO” FIVE CENTS, 1913-1938

Designed by James E. Fraser, an artist known for his statues of American Indians. This coin was to be the first totally American coin issued featuring totally American subjects, the American Bison and the American Indian.

JEFFERSON FIVE CENTS, 1938-PRESENT

Designed by Felix Schlag, an immigrant from Germany who wished to give something back to his adopted country. The reverse features Monticello, Jefferson’s home, for which he was the architect.

Dimes

BARBER DIME, 1892-1916

Named for its designer, Charles Barber. The reverse depicts some of America’s agricultural crops, including corn, wheat, & cotton.

WINGED LIBERTY or “MERCURY” DIME, 1916-1945

Designed by Adolph A. Weinman, the wings on Miss Liberty’s cap signify Freedom of Thought, though many confuse her with the Greek god Mercury, who had wings on his feet. The design of Miss Liberty is very similar to a Roman silver coin from 200 B.C. known as a denarius.

ROOSEVELT DIMES, 1946-PRESENT

Designed by John R. Sinnock. Franklin D. Roosevelt was our first handicapped President, having to use a wheelchair due to polio. He supported the March of Dimes against polio, and after his death in office in 1945 was depicted on the dime.

Quarters

BARBER QUARTER, 1892-1916

Named for its designer, Charles Barber. The reverse shows half of the Great Seal of the United States, now found on the back of the $1.00 bill.

STANDING LIBERTY QUARTER, 1916-1930

Designed by Herman A. MacNeil during the First World War, Miss Liberty holds an olive branch signifying America’s desire for peace, and a shield signifying America’s willingness to defend itself.

WASHINGTON QUARTER, 1932-PRESENT

Designed by John Flanagan as a one-year commemorative honoring the 200th Anniversary of George Washington’s birth, this coin proved to be so popular that it was retained as a regular issue.

Half Dollars

BARBER HALF DOLLAR, 1892-1915

Similar to the Quarter. Note that there are 13 stars on both the front and back, 13 leaves on the olive branch in the eagle’s claw and 13 arrows in the cluster, to represent the 13 original colonies that revolted against England.

LIBERTY WALKING HALF DOLLAR, 1916-1947

Designed by Adolph A. Weinman. Miss Liberty, wrapped in he American flag and holding a large olive branch of peace, strides towards the sun rising over war-torn Europe. Generally regarded as one of America’s most beautiful coins.

FRANKLIN HALF DOLLAR, 1948-1963

Originally designed by John R. Sinnock for use on a cent, this coin honors the senior statesman of the American Revolution, famous for the expression “A penny saved is a penny earned.” The U.S. used English pennies before the Revolution. The famous Liberty Bell of Philadelphia is on the reverse of this coin

KENNEDY HALF DOLLAR, 1964-PRESENT

Designed by Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro to honor this popular President who was assassinated in 1963. The reverse depicts the Seal of the President of the United States, and has 13 stars above the eagle and another SO stars around it. The only Kennedy half dollars struck in 90% silver for circulation were those made in 1964.

Dollars

MORGAN SILVER DOLLAR, 1878-1921

Named for its designer, George T. Morgan. Struck in large quantity using silver from the American west, these “cartwheels” circulated well into the 1960’s. For nearly 100 years silver dollars were the backing for silver certificates.

PEACE SILVER DOLLAR, 1921-1935

Designed by Anthony De Francisci as a one-year commemorative marking the end of World War I (note the word PEACE on the reverse), this design was retained as a regular issue for several years. The 1921 coins were struck in a higher relief than in following years.

EISENHOWER DOLLAR, 1971-1978

Designed by Frank Gasparro, this coin honored the President who was Supreme Commander of Allied Forces during World War II and who began the U.S. space program. The reverse design is the emblem of the Apollo II mission to the moon from 1969.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY DOLLAR, 1979-1981

Designed by Frank Gasparro, this coin honors a hero who spent her entire long life in the struggle for women’s rights. The reverse is the same as before.

Gold Coins

LIBERTY HEAD $2.50 GOLD, 1840-1907

Designed by Christian Gobrecht. Because America’s monetary system was established on a decimal system, a “Quarter Eagle” equal to ten Quarter Dollars was struck for many years.

INDIAN HEAD $2.50 GOLD, 1908-1929

Designed by Bela L. Pratt. Unlike the Caucasian face on the Indian Head cent, said by some to resemble the designer’s daughter, this last “Quarter Eagle” depicts a realistic Native American.

LIBERTY HEAD $5.00 GOLD, 1839-1908

Designed by Christian Gobrecht in the days when people would not accept paper money, this “Half Eagle” was used longer than any U.S. coin design other than the Lincoln cent.

INDIAN HEAD $5.00 GOLD, 1908-1929

Designed by Bela L. Pratt. Like the $2.50 of this series, the design of this “Half Eagle” is recessed below the surface of the coin to protect the relatively soft gold from wear in circulation. This type of sculpture known as sunken relief was practiced by the Egyptians as early as 2400 B.C. on wall reliefs

LIBERTY HEAD $10.00 GOLD, 1838-1907

Designed by Christian Gobrecht. As part of America’s decimal monetary system, a gold “Eagle” equal to ten silver dollars circulated for many years.

INDIAN HEAD $10.00 GOLD, 1907-1933

Designed by the famous sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens, the face on this “Eagle” was originally intended to be the Greek goddess Nike until St. Gauden’s friend, President Theodore Roosevelt, suggested adding a Native American headdress.

LIBERTY HEAD $20.00 GOLD, 1849-1907

Designed by James B. Longacre. So much gold was coming out of California during the California gold rush that a larger coin was needed, and so the “Double Eagle” was created. The coin had three subtle changes on the back during its long life.

ST. GAUDENS $20.00 GOLD, 1907-1933

Designed by Augustus St. Gaudens, and widely regarded as America’s most beautiful coin. The obverse design is copied from an ancient Greek statue of Victory originally on Mount Olympus. St. Gaudens first use of this design was for the Sherman Monument outside Central Park in New York City where a winged victory leads Sherman’s force.

A Numismatic Essay

From [email protected] Mar 21 09:54:29 1995
Date: 18 Mar 1995 18:27:11 GMT
From: John Murbach [email protected]
Newsgroups: rec.collecting.coins
Subject: Numismatic perspective

Numismatic Perspective

       How Coin Collecting Can Help You Relate to Events<br>
          of "far away and near, long ago and recent"<br>

by John M. Murbach

—-

      I do not know what I may appear to the world but to<br>
      myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on<br>
      the seashore and diverting myself in now and then<br>
      finding a smoothe pebble or a prettier shell than<br>
      ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all<br>
      undiscovered before me.<br>
                         <dd><dd><dd><dd>--Sir Isaac Newton
                           <dd><dd><dd><dd>England's mintmaster, 1701-27<br>

                              ----</center>

Who is the coin collector? Why is he devoted to his hobby? Just what is “the bug” that bites the few but ignores the many? And what causes a non-collector to scratch his head in quizzical wonderment when he engages in a conversation with an avid collector? (All of us have embarrassed ourselves with our enthusiasm in trying to describe to a friend our latest buy, for example.) Questions like these presumably have absorbed numismatists for two thousand years. Prior to the 20th century a cultured man could not be considered truly refined unless he owned a smorgasbord of antiquities: fossils, sculpture, paintings, artifacts, curiosities, scientific instruments, a library of classics, and naturally, a coin cabinet. Coins were merely an adjunct, though quite necessary, to becoming a well-rounded, well-educated gentleman in times past.

Most men do not concern themselves with the whys and wherefores of life; they have little interest in seeing things as they are and in knowing what has gone before. History to them is as bone dry and barren as the desert is to a thirsty man. The only difference is the thirsty man seeks to quench his thirst. Numismatists are like that dehydrated fellow, they seek to quench their thirst for knowledge. Some may call it the “joys of collecting.” But what really inspires such individuals is the educating process: learning new stories about their Liberty Seated half dollar of Civil War token, finding an odd die characteristic on their large cent and wondering how it got there, discovering in a small mintage figure that times were tough or that the mint had a fire and had to shut down. The essayist Albert Jay Nock likened getting an education to getting the measles; you have to go where the measles is.

A coin without its history, without its “why” and “wherefore,” without some connecting link to its past, has no meaning. It is only a metallic artifact from bygone days. Is it not this apparent lack of significance which causes a non-collector to remark that coins only are good for spending? Such a person is unaware how every coin has a story to tell, a story each of us must discover. And that takes labor. And thought. Yet to those of us who have the collecting gift, so to speak, it isn’t work at all! The search is the reward.

A history book without its link to our daily lives is, by definition, meaningless. Back in the 1960s the catchword of the day was “relevance.” Students and agitators kept ballyhooing that what they were being taught had no relevance to what was needed in their day-to-day living. Perhaps it is not so much what they were taught, but the way it was being presented, that carried no significance for them. After all, no one “teaches” a student anything; he ‘larns himself–if he has the motivation. To most of us the doings of men and women in ancient Rome and Greece seem as far off as the happenings in Outer Mongolia. Yet this need not be so. I’ll give a recent experience to demonstrate how four seemingly unrelated strings (one being the collecting bug in this numismatist) intertwined naturally with a desire to “see things as they are.”

1. First, the “relevant” part: the once-nasty Soviet Union vs. the U.S.A. We’re all aware of these giant forces in the world today. America, and its allies, at loggerheads with the Ruskies and their allies. It is a political historian’s cherished clash of ideologies.

2. Last year [this was written in 1988] I bought an ancient coin of the Greek city-state of Gela, on the island of Sicily off the toe of Italy. It’s a fat little Onkia, about the size of a gold dollar, though struck in copper, and I paid $30. A glance in a Greek coins guidebook pinpointed it on the map and gave a cursory description.

3. Also last year I bought the autobiography and writings of Thomas Jefferson. Being a lover of early U.S. coinage, and hoping to learn more about one of the men who created our monetary system, I though this would work well within the purview of numismatics. Jefferson was a prolific letter writer, corresponding with scores of famous–and not so famous–men and women of his day, both here in America and abroad. His scope of interest was nothing short of astounding. In one letter to a friend he laments his heavy public duties, and years for a quiet retirement at Monticello with “my Tacitus and Thucydides.” Now, Thucydides was a Green author and military man who wrote the definitive history of the Peloponnesian War. Having a budding interest in ancient coins–the Gela piece, and several other inexpensive Greek coins, whetted my interest–I thanked Jefferson for his suggestion and purchased a copy of Thucydides “The Peloponnesian War.” (More from Jefferson in a moment.)

4. The Peloponnesian War. Athens, and her allies vs. Sparta and hers. Theirs was an early version of our own U.S./Russia clash. Off and on for 30 years towards the tail end of the 400s B.C., Athens and Sparta squared off in a series of battles and skirmishes, negotiations and broken treaties, prisoner trades and clandestine spying. Both were empire builders. Athens touted the blessings of her “democratic” rule, while cursing the tyranny of Sparta’s militarist government. Sounds a lot like our troubles today, doesn’t it? In 416 B.C., in the middle of their hot-and-cold war, the Athenians got it in their heads to invade Sicily. Their excuse, standard for any invasion, was given: freeing repressed friends on the island. (Their real reasons were empire building and booty, as history shows.) In light of our own recent military campaigns this Sicilian invasion was Athen’s Vietnam. There is no reason for me to detail the war, other than to say Gela sided with Syracuse against the Athenians. Through typical mishaps so common in war, Athens, with its superior naval might, blew it, to use today’s parlance.

Can you imagine I was to read the part Gela played in this turmoil? I held the coin in hand as I engrossed myself in Thucydides’ fast-paced style. To top it off, the Gelan coin was minted between 420 and 405 B.C., exactly as the battles raged! I wonder now, as I did while reading, what part my trivial copper Onkia played in that troubled affair. How much did it buy? A few loaves of bread? Some onions? A piece of cloth for a bandage?

Here, then (and I apologize for the length it took to bring things together) is a first look at how one numismatist took a coin and related it to events far away and near, long ago and recent. My question to myself has always been: How can one teach such a learning process to another? What spur is there but self-interest in enticing a person to study numismatics? I spent $30 for a coin, $30 for the Jefferson book, another $1.50 for Thucydides (found in a used book store), and spent many happy hours reading and digesting and ruminating. Numismatics doesn’t have to be expensive. Nor does it entail having to squirrel away your treasures in a dark safe deposit box where they cannot be enjoyed. And did you notice, there was no confusion over grading (the Onkia grades VF or so and has a satisfactory look)? And the priced seem reasonable–emphasis on “reason”–so I bought it. I didn’t fear for the coin’s authenticity (having bought it from a long-time dealer in the series). Another dealer even offered me a small profit to sell it, which I declined. Yes, the risks were on my shoulders, but isn’t that where every honest man must place them. Don’t the rewards and the responsibilities of buying a coin, and learning about it, go hand in hand?

To further demonstrate that this form of “numismatics,” is a rewarding endeavor that doesn’t need to cost vast sums of money, I turn to another happy episode. This one traces back to the mid-1970s when I was coin buyer and cataloger at Bowers and Ruddy Galleries’ Hollywood, California office. (I trust Dave Bowers will not get red-faced when he reads my revelations). Dave Bowers grew enamored with “wildcat” bank notes of New England. Ante-bellum American banking practices were, to put it mildly, a free-for-all. Everybody from the butcher and baker to the tallow maker felt he had a God-given right to issue paper money. The Constitution said nothing against it. As a result, many quaint and colorful products came off the nation’s private printing presses, and were injected into the streams of commerce with little more integrity and sound backing than the puffery or supposed good reputation of their issuers. To a historian like Dave, these bits of early Americana are the meat and potatoes of numismatics. They tell stories of the rise and fall of small New England towns, of the business ventures of canal-building companies, of the agonies, the crises attendant to financing the War of 1812.

As the collecting bug caught hold, Dave sent notice about his interest to all the currency specialists; immediately they began mailing packages of 50 or 100 or 200 notes for his approval. I recall many a morning when, shortly after the company mail arrived, he would scamper back to his desk to tear open that day’s newest approval shipment of New England bank notes. Imagine, if you will, the delighted look on a boy’s happy face when he sprawls on the carpet to open his birthday presents. That fit Q. David Bowers to a T! Each bundle torn open revealed a multihued cascade of vignettes, oddball denominations, strange town names, and curious signatures–just the thing to enchant the child in any true collector. He show me many of his new buys with an avidity I’m sure we all feel when our collecting switch is set to HIGH. I never caught the wildcat note bug myself, but to this day I remember many of Dave’s purchases and the stories behind them.

That was more than a decade ago. Once again I can thank Thomas Jefferson for re-igniting this memory, for he revealed in an 1819 letter one of the unhappy side-effects from this abundance of broken bank notes. As in the instance of the Gela coin, a confluence of events and my reading of history combined with my numismatic background to give me an eye-opening look into one forgotten aspect of our nation’s history:

First. Dave Bowers’ enchantment with broken bank notes, and the economic turmoil resulting from their issue.

Second. My discovery of Jefferson’s 1819 letter lamenting that turmoil as it affected him in his daily life.

Third. An interest in American history during its early boom period, 1800 to 1861, especially the troubles during and after the War of 1812.

Fourth. Our similar troubles today because we have failed to learn the lessons of history.

My reading had prepared me for the aftermath of the War of 1812. Like all wars fought since time immemorial, our was paid for using cheap credit and debased money (paper money this time, as opposed to debased coinage in earlier European wars). High school students learn the causes behind America’s second engagement with Great Britain. But few are ever taught the later effects on the nation’s economy from winding down the war, and the consequent dislocations.

During the struggle business activity picked up markedly. It always does. New banks surfaced to flood the land with a deluge of fiat money, money unbacked by gold or silver coin. The U.S. Treasury itself issued, for the first time, currency in the amount of $36,680,794–a gigantic sum for a young nation. The number of private banks ballooned from 89 the year before hostilities broke out to 246 at the end of 1816. Nobody knows how many small businessmen and merchants added their notes to this growing pile. Probably they numbered in the thousands. As with any inflation boom, production exploded and real estate prices advanced; so, too, the securities market; and a canal-building frenzy developed–this was in the days before paved roads. Paper “values” for all commodities rose accordingly. The day of reckoning arrived–which it must–early in 1819, and panic ensued along the lines of the 1929 to 1933 affair. Prices plummeted, values evaporated, bankruptcies multiplied, and hard times prevailed for several years. (These were not the same “Hard Times” that were commemorated in our famous tokens from the 1830s. That was the following crash.)

Although he fails to mention it, Jefferson must have been referring to these abundant issues of national, state, and especially broken bank notes, when he wrote to Nathaniel Macon on January 12, 1819: “… There is, indeed, one evil which awakens me at times, because it jostles me at every turn. It is that we have now no measure of value. I am asked $18 for a yard of broadcloth, which, when we had dollars, [he means hard money “dollars”] I used to get for 18 shillings; from this I can only understand that a dollar is now worth but two inches of broadcloth, but broadcloth is no standard of measure or value. I do not know, therefore, whereabouts I stand in the scale of property, nor what to ask, or what to give for it. I saw, indeed, the like machinery in action in the years ‘80 and ‘81, and without dissatisfaction; because in wearing out, it was working out our salvation. But I see nothing in this renewal of the game of ‘Robin’s alive’ but a general demoralization of the nation, a filching from industry its honest earnings, wherewith to build up palaces, and raise gambling stock for swindlers and shavers, who are to close too [sic] their career of piracies by fraudulent bankruptcies. My dependence for a remedy, however, is with the wisdom which grows with time and suffering. Whether the succeeding generation is to be more virtuous than their predecessors, I cannot say …”

Familiar, isn’t it: “… wherewith to build up palaces, and raise gambling stock for swindlers and shavers …” Looks exactly like what just happened on Wall Street. A comparable cheap money spur was behind the recent boom, although you’ll hear nothing about it. Jefferson’s final comments are worth a moment of thought.

This, to me, is what numismatics is about. Not grading controversies, not investment portfolios, not quality chasing, nor price appreciation, but a bringing together of diverse bits and pieces–of coins and paper money, of history and economics, of men and ideas, in times long ago and recent–then putting it all together to arrive at right thinking, at a common sense view of things and events. it is like the joy one feels in fitting in the final piece to a jigsaw puzzle!

(Permission is granted by the author to make copies of this essay when and as you wish.)

John Murbach [email protected]

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Coin collecting merit badge requirements

Coin Collecting Merit Badge Requirements

Understand how coins are made, and where the active U.S. Mint facilities are located.
Explain these collecting terms:

Obverse
Reverse
Reeding
Clad
Type set
Date set

Explain the grading terms Uncirculated, Extremely Fine, Very Fine, Fine, Very Good, Good, and Poor. Show five different grade examples of the same coin type. Explain the term "proof" and why it is not a grade. Tell what encapsulated coins are.
Know three different ways to store a collection, and describe the benefits, drawbacks, and expenses of each method. Pick one to use when completing requirements.
Do the following:

Demonstrate to your counselor that you know how to use two U.S. or world coin reference catalogs.
Read a numismatic magazine or newspaper and tell your counselor about what you learned.

Describe the 1999-2008 50 State Quarters Program. Collect and show your counselor five different quarters you have acquired from circulation.
Collect from circulation a set of currently circulating U.S. coins. Include one coin of each denomination (cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, dollar). For each coin, locate the mint marks, if any, and the designer's initials, if any.
Do the following:

Identify the people depicted on the following denominations of current U.S. paper money: $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100.
Explain "legal tender".
Describe the role the Federal Reserve System plays in the distribution of currency.

Do ONE of the following:

Collect and identify 50 foreign coins from at least 10 different countries.
Collect and identify 20 bank notes from at least five different countries.
Collect and identify 15 different tokens or medals.
For each year since the year of your birth, collect a date set of a single type of coin.

Do ONE of the following:

Tour a U.S. Mint facility, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, or a Federal Reserve bank, and describe what you learned to your counselor.
With your parent's permission, attend a coin show or coin club meeting, or view the Web site of the U.S. Mint or a coin dealer, and report what you learned.
Give a talk about coin collecting to your troop or class at school.
Do drawings of five Colonial-era U.S. coins.

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