Well, I was in Washington for work yesterday, so I decided to fly in Sunday and spend the afternoon sightseeing. My first stop was the Smithsonian Castle to see the Legendary Coin exhibit. It was truly amazing to see some of those pieces, with a very overweighted emphasis on Saint-Gaudens' coinage! There were examples of the high relief and low releif Indian eagles, there were two URH Saints which were amazing! The rims on those coins were literally twice as thick as a regular Saint, which should give you an idea of the depth of relief. There were regular high relief Saints, a matte proof 1908 Saint, and the small diameter pattern double eagle, which was the size of an eagle but twice as thick (very cool, but I like the full diameter better). There was a 1927-D Saint, but no 1933. They also had a pattern double eagle from 1906 designed by Charles Barber, which was a nice coin, but fell pretty far short of the Saint-Gaudens design.

In other gold there were some territorial pieces from the Oregon Trading Company, Templeton Reid, and Pike's peak. Of course there was the unique 1849 double eagle, a gorgeous proof. There was a California quarter eagle, a C-mint classic head half eagle that was gorgeous! A couple of $50 slugs including an Octagonal US Assay Office issue and a Kellogg, and two pattern 1877 Half unions, which were astounding! The territorial slugs were somewhat thicker, so the coin wasn't dramatically larger in diameter than the double eagle. The pattern half unions appeared to be the same thickness as a double eagle and as a result were enormous in diameter! They were larger than any coin I'd ever seen, with nearly 2.5 oz. of gold. Very cool.

There were also some other coins, all three classes of 1804 dollar, a 1794 dollar, a nice exhibit of continental currency, the 1913 Libert Nickel, a pine tree shilling, a 1974 aluminum cent, and a Brasher dabloon. All extremely cool to see in person.

Later in the day I also went to the Museum of American history where there was an exhibit of the Presidents and there were two numismatically interesting items, the first was an exhibit of peace medals sent to the Indians, including the one that graces the reverse of the 2004 nickel. Then there were some coins from Eisenhower's collection, I was not aware than he collected coins. On display was a 1799 silver dollar, a Morgan dollar, an Oregon Trail commemorative half, several liberty seated quarters, a couple of three cent nickels and some indian head cents. Overall a very fun afternoon!

Its on my list of things to do.

I'm going on a trip to Washington and New York with my college in October, and on our last day we can go to the museums near the Mall. That one I would love to visit.

I really want to go see that but won't have the chance for a few years. Would be an amazing trip though.

That 1974 aluminum cent would be interesting to see along with the UHR Saints. Heard sooo many stories about them.

Well, the nice thing if you go is that it's in the Castle, not in the main areas like the Air and Space museam which are always mobbed. There was no line, and I was in to see the coins in a matter of a minute. You could spend as much time as you want in there, not very crowded, or you could be in and out in 10 minuted. At least that was my experience. And although there are fewer coins on display, it is so much better than the former exhibit of the National Numismatic Collection.

I've been through the main areas before, talk about rubbing shoulders with people.

The streets are enough to keep me away for years to come. One wrong turn and uh-oh. Have fun finding your hotel!

Well, fortunately the meeting I had to attend is always held at the same hotel, just a block from the Treasury on Pennsylvania Ave. So as long as I can find either the White House or the Capitol, I'll be able to find my hotel.

Sounds very cool Jeff!
Like Doc said" Going to put on my list of things to do"
Thanks for sharing.

Neat! Was there something special about the 1974 dollar?

Nothing special outside my typing skills! It was a 1794 dollar!

Ah. I was wondering if it might had been some weird off-metal strike or something.

Dang. I need that.

You never heard of the "Dyslexic dollar" of 1794?

The aluminum cent wasn't all that impressive. To be honest, it just looked like a BU 1943 steel cent but with a different date. It has it's place in history I suppose, but those earlier treasures certainly cast a long shadow!

Isn't a lot of what used to be on display say 20 years ago now in storage?

Yes, the vast majority is in storage in the Smithsonian's vaults.

Seems a shame to keep all those coins locked away from the public eye like that. I would love to get down to D.C. again this summer and have some time to go there, I live like 2 hours or so from D.C. so it's not that far of a trip, only problem is, is finding my way around those gawd awful streets! I was down last year for the Native American museum, which has some nice South American colonial gold and silver coinage on display as well as just being a nice place to visit overall. Like everyone else is saying...."it's on my TO DO list!"

I'll be in washington a week during October. . . I'm staying 2 blocks from the Sm. . . . . AND I'm taking Pictures. . . I think we leave DFW on the 15th.

Lucky!!!

I would d anything to leave Kuwait and see these fantastic coins in life.

That would be my dream.
Rodney, I would love to see Pictures!
Please post em here!

TKC!

Hey did you see this?
http://smithsonianimages.si.edu/siphoto/si...2&action=detail

Check out the online version, it's the next best thing to being there (in fact it might be better since you can see the reverses of all the coins!).

http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins