The E-Sylum:  Volume 8, Number 52, December 11, 2005, Article 7

SMITHSONIAN NUMISMATIC EXHIBIT OPENS

A scaled-down exhibit of selections from the National
Numismatic Collection is now on display in Washington, D.C.
On December 9 the Associated Press reported that  "The
exhibit of rare, historic and beautiful currency opens
Friday at the Smithsonian Castle, the original 150-year-old
home of the Smithsonian Institution. There are 56 coins,
bills and medals in all, a tiny slice of the more than
1.5 million in the museum's collection.

Specialists in coins much admire a $20 gold piece
designed by one of the most famous American sculptors
of the late 1800s and early 1900s, Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
The goddess Liberty is on one side, torch and olive branch
in hand, and a flying eagle on the other. President Theodore
Roosevelt, impressed by a medal Saint-Gaudens made for his
inauguration, urged him to try doing coins. The medal is
on show, too.

For comparison, Richard Doty, the museum's senior curator
of numismatics, has included in the exhibit an ancient
Greek coin in high relief struck about 400 B.C.

The display also includes a portrait medal of James
Smithson, who bequeathed his fortune of 104,960 British
gold sovereigns to the United States for the advancement
of knowledge. It was the founding bequest of the Smithsonian
Institution."

"Legendary Coins and Currency' will be on display
through Sept. 10. Admission is free."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

For museum hours, see: Museum Hours

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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