HISTORY OF THE 

 NATIONAL NUMISMATIC COLLECTIONS 



By V^/adimir CLiin-Sufanelli 

 ORIGINS AND EARLY YEARS TO 1880 



The national numismatic collections had their 

 beginnings in the early 19th century in Washington, 

 D.C. They found a central repositor\' in the Smith- 

 sonian Institution when that organization was foinided 

 in 1846 in compliance with the will ofjamcs Smithson, 

 an English scientist, who beciueathcd his fortune to 

 the United States for the "increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge." Smithson's own interest in numismatirs 

 is indicated in a listing of his personal propert\- which 

 included "'two pasteboard boxes containing medals, 

 coins . . . etc." ' as certified ij\' the English consul 

 in Genoa where he died on June 27, 1829, at the age 

 of 63 or 64. The disposition of these items is unknown, 

 but among his effects which did reach the United 

 States was a medallion (fig. 1) to which was attached 

 a paper with the words "my likeness" written in 

 .Smithson's hand." (This medallion has previousK 

 been attributed to Antonio Ganova, liut it is not his 

 work. It was modeled in 1817 by Nicolas Pierre 



'William J. Rules, "James .Smithson and his Bequest," 

 in Annual Report of ih*' Board oj Regents of the Smithsontat: lintilii- 

 tion . . . for the i'car I87[), Washington 1880, p. 15b. 



-The medallion is cast in brass and partly chased. f)\.ii in 

 shape, it measures .^L'.S x 6:3 mm; its thickness is .") mm .it tin- 

 border and 10 mm at its highest point. The back shows vertic al 

 striations from planing and the lightly traced inscription en- 

 graved on two lines reads, "James .Smithson Esqr./ 1817". It 

 weighs 134.34.') grams. This medallion served as a model for 

 the great seal of the Smithsonian by Edw.ard Stabler, ordered 

 by the first Board of Regents, also for the portrait engraved by 

 Charles Burt and published by the .Smithsonian for the vignette 

 which appeared on all of the Institution's publications ii[) to 

 the 1880s. It was also used as the model for the .Smithson Med.il, 

 designed by I'aul Vincze and first presented to the Roy.il .Society 

 at the James .Smitlison Bicentennial celebration in l")(i5. 



Tiolier, engraver general at the French Mint from 

 1816 to 1843.) 



On liehalf of the United States Government, 

 Richard Rush was appointed to receive the Smithson 

 bequest and he made the necessary arrangements for 

 transforming the estate into hard mone\', which 

 amounted to 104,960 gold so\'ereigns, 8 shillings, and 

 6 pence. ^ Rush reported its safe arrival in New York 

 on .August 29, 1838/ and deposited the gold at the 

 Mint for recoining into United States mone\'; it 

 totaled S508,318.46.-' 



No official attempt was made to preserve examples 

 of the James Smithson gold transfer as historical 

 mementos. Gertain historical and numismatic facts, 

 howexer, contribute to the conclusion that at least 

 two of the so\-ereigns (fig. 2) deposited by Richard 

 Rush were probably saved from the melting pot and 

 are now preserved in the national numismatic collec- 

 tions (see Appendix I). 



' For data about the transfer, see Willi.^m Jones Riiels, The 

 Smithsonian Institution: Documents Relative to its Origin and Hislnrv. 

 /835-J899, vol. 1., Washington 1901, pp. 7ff. 



■> Ibid., p. 100, Richard Rush to John Forsyth. This large 

 quantity of gold was packed in 10.') bags, each bag containing 

 1000 sovereigns with the exception of one bag which contained 

 only 960 sovereigns plus the 8 shillings and 6 pence wrapped in 

 paper. Tlic bags were placed in 1 1 boxes — ten of them con- 

 tained 10,(W0 sovereigns each, while the eleventh box was used 

 for the remaining 5 bags — and shipj^cd on board the Mediator. 



'■ Ibid., pp. 101-102. On September 4, 1838, .Secretary of the 

 Treasury Levi Woodbury requested that $.')(),000 be coined in 

 gold immediately: see National Archives, Records of the 

 LInited States Mint at Philadelphia, General Correspondence 

 and other orders concerning the Smithson legacy, on .Sep- 

 tember .5, and November .''), 1838. 



