50 Dollars, Pattern, United States, 1877

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Object Details

designer

Barber, William

Description (Brief)

One (1) 50 dollar coin, pattern

United States, 1877

Obverse Image: Left-facing Liberty wearing a coronet. 13 stars.

Obversre Text: LIBERTY / 1877

Reverse Image: A modified heraldic eagle with a shield over chest, holding a double scroll, clutching arrows and branch. Rays and stars above eagle.

Reverse Text: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / FIFTY DOLLARS / IN GOD WE TRUST / E PLURIBUS UNUM

Description

Some twenty years after the private sector had abandoned the idea of a fifty-dollar gold piece in the mid-1850s, the Philadelphia Mint considered the possibility of a federal coin of this denomination. There was even talk of a "union," or hundred-dollar coin, and a drawing or two has survived to suggest what the Mint had in mind. But in the end, no such coin was ever produced.

The project went a bit farther in the case of the "half-union." Dies were prepared, the work of William Barber (father of the eventual Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber).

Barber's obverse and reverse designs look vaguely akin to Longacre's work for the double eagle. A few patterns were struck in copper and two in gold; the latter share a reverse die but each has a slightly different obverse die. The project was abandoned soon afterwards, as it became apparent that the new coin simply wasn't needed.

Credit Line

U.S. Department of the Treasury, United States Mint

date made

1877

ID Number

1986.0836.0059

accession number

1986.0836

catalog number

1986.0836.0059

Object Name

coin

pattern coin

Physical Description

gold (overall material)

Measurements

overall: .3 cm x 5.11 cm; 1/8 in x 2 in

place made

United States

Related Publication

Zoomable Image and Details

Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms

Related Web Publication

http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm

See more items in

Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection

Coins

Numismatics

Coins, Currency and Medals

Legendary Coins

Exhibition

Value of Money

Exhibition Location

National Museum of American History

Data Source