A Collection Of What We Love In Numismatic History

Not a coin but I recently acquired this bank. I'm thinking it is 1960's era.

Nice addition to the thread

Elizabeth Jones was the first female Chief Engraver of the United States, appointed by President Ronald Reagan. She served the 11th term of the United States Mint from 1981-1991. During this era, buying silver coins was becoming very popular, and the 1986 American Silver Eagle was minted and distributed for collectors. In 1983, Jones designed the Los Angeles XXIII Olympiad, Olympic One Dollar commemorative coin, obverse. Jones' design incorporated the traditional discus thrower of conjoined outlines, appearing to be in stroboscopic motion in a three-layered outline. She described her own distinctive carving style as "mildly abstract."

Salmon P. Chase, Treasury Secretary, scribes "In God is our Trust," scratches out "is our" and overwrites "We" to arrive at "In God We Trust" in a December 9, 1863, letter to James Pollock, Director of the Philadelphia Mint.

Chase, Salmon P (December 9, 1863). Letter to James Pollock. Document # RG 104_UD 87-A_Folder In God We Trust 1861_Part1. National Archives and Records Administration. p. 11.

Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808 - May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd Governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, and served as the 25th United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Chase served as Secretary of the Treasury in President Lincoln's cabinet from 1861 to 1864, during the Civil War. In that period of crisis, there were two great changes in American financial policy, the establishment of a national banking system and the issue of paper currency.

The former was Chase's own particular measure. He suggested the idea, worked out the important principles and many of the details, and induced the Congress to approve them. It not only secured an immediate market for government bonds, but also provided a permanent, uniform and stable national currency. Chase ensured that the Union could sell debt to pay for the war effort. He worked with Jay Cooke & Company to successfully manage the sale of $500 million in government war bonds (known as 5/20s) in 1862.

The first issue of $1 notes in 1862 as legal tender, featured Chase. The first U.S. federal currency, the greenback demand note, was printed in 1861-1862 during Chase's tenure as Secretary of the Treasury. It was Chase's responsibility to design the notes. In an effort to further his political career, his face appeared on a variety of U.S. paper currency, starting with the $1 bill so that the people would recognize him.

Just a few hours after the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the first committee to design a seal for the United States was appointed, and its design began. After undergoing numerous changes, on June 20, 1782, the seal was officially adopted by the Continental Congress.
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The Great Seal of the United States is the symbol of our sovereignty as a nation. Its obverse is used on official documents to authenticate the signature of the President and it appears on proclamations, warrants, treaties, and commissions of high officials of the government. The Great Seal's design, used as our national coat of arms, is also used officially as decoration on military uniform buttons, on plaques above the entrances to U.S. embassies an consulates, and in other places. Both the obverse and the less familiar reverse, which is never used as a seal, are imprinted on the one-dollar bill.

The history of the Great Seal begins with the day of our founding as a nation. The Continental Congress appointed a committee to design a seal for the United States on July 4, 1776, just a few hours after they adopted the Declaration of Independence. The committee members—Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams—prepared a very complicated design that was promptly tabled by Congress. However, one prominent feature of their design appeared in the design that was originally adopted—the motto E Pluribus Unum, "Out of Many, One."

In 1780, a second committee—James Lovell of Massachusetts and John Morin Scott and William Churchill Houston of Virginia—developed a second design, but it was also tabled by Congress. Like the first design, the second had elements that were later incorporated into the final seal, including the olive branch, the constellation of 13 stars, and the shield with red and white stripes on a blue field.

A third committee was appointed in May of 1782. This committee's design employed the eagle for the first time, in the crest.

Early in 1782, Congress referred the three designs to Secretary of the Continental Congress Charles Thompson. Thompson made a fourth design that was revised by William Barton, a Philadelphia student of heraldry. Thompson submitted a written description of his final version to the Continental Congress that described the design and explained its symbolism. The Continental Congress approved this design on June 20, 1782.

(Information excerpted from The Great Seal of the United States. National Archives and Records Administration: Washington, DC, 1986.)

The influence of the seal on U.S. coinage is unmistakeable.

FIRST GREAT SEAL OF THE UNITED STATES, 1782



This is a 1903 press and counterdie for imprinting the Great Seal of the United States on official government documents:

Excellent post on the Great Seal!

Great post numismatic student