VA -- Richmond -- Money Museum @ FRB of Richmond:
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- Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.
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- Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
- FRB_050927_034.JPG: The next several pictures show how money is designed, started from sketches through the etching process etc.
- FRB_050927_043.JPG: This is etched by hand
- FRB_050927_066.JPG: The complete note is transferred from the master die to a roll of softened steel, which is then hardened. The roll thus produced is known as the master roll.
- FRB_050927_077.JPG: The next several pictures show how a coin is created
- FRB_050927_085.JPG: The hub is hardened by a heat process and used to prepare a master die. The master die is hardened, and a working hub is extracted by the cold forging process.
The working hub extracted from the master die is used to produce a number of identical working dies.
- FRB_050927_092.JPG: An edge-rolling machine "squeezes" the coin blanks to form the raised rim, or "upset" edge, found on finished coins.
- FRB_050927_094.JPG: Residue from the blanking process is remelted for reuse
- FRB_050927_110.JPG: Coin Screw Press, 1792.
This is a replica of the first Coin Screw Press used at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia. This hand-operated device was used to strike the coin images on the blanks.
- FRB_050927_112.JPG: Strip Rolling Machine, c 1800 (in front).
Machines of this type were used in the U.S. Mint's laboratories and assay divisions for rolling small ingots into strips for testing and assaying. Specimen strikes and experimental coins that were to be melted were also "rolled through" the machine to obliterate the patterns.
- FRB_050927_117.JPG: Cannonball Safe, c 1890.
Cannonball safes, so called because of the shape of the security compartment mounted on the base, were in general use in financial institutions from 1890 to 1920. The safe on display was built by the Mosler Safe Company in 1890.
- FRB_050927_119.JPG: Common Press, c 1725.
Reproduction of an early eighteenth century hand press, based in part on an English press said to have been operated by Benjamin Franklin as a journeyman printer in England. This kind of press was used for virtually all printing in the American colonies, including the printing of paper money.
- FRB_050927_129.JPG: United States Notes:
United States notes, or "legal tenders," were the principal Government currency. Acceptable at face value for both public and private debts, they superseded state bank notes in relative importance.
Ten Dollar United States Note, March 10, 1862
Twenty Dollar United States Note, March 10, 1862.
- FRB_050927_145.JPG: Automated Scales, c. 1910.
First used by the U.S. Mint in the late 1800s, these machines weighed up to a maximum of ten coinage blanks or coins simultaneously and sorted light and heavy pieces from those of standard weight. Heavy and light pieces were melted for reuse.
- FRB_050927_149.JPG: World War II Silver Certificates:
:"Yellow seal" certificates were issued for our Armed Forces in North Africa and Sicily during World War II. "Brown seal" $1 certificates were issued for circulation in Hawaii.
- FRB_050927_153.JPG: Silver Certificates.
Small-sized silver certificates were printed in denominations of $1, $5, and $10. Silver certificates were last issued in 1964.
- FRB_050927_159.JPG: Federal Reserve Notes into the 21st Century:
In 1996, U.S. currency was redesigned with new security features. Common features on the redesigned notes include an enlarged, off-center portrait, a watermark, color shifting ink (except on the $5 note), and a large high-contrast numeral (making it easier for those with low-vision to distinguish the denomination).
- FRB_050927_163.JPG: In 2003, the $20 note was redesigned to be more secure -- harder to fake and easier to check. The redesign included the introduction of subtle background colors, two new "symbols of freedom" -- American eagles, and removal of the borders around Andrew Jackson's portrait and the White House vignette. The $50 and $100 note were also redesigned for release in 2004 and 2005.
- FRB_050927_172.JPG: Cents.
Cents were minted of bronze until 1942 when wartime shortages forced selection of a substitute. Zinc-coated steel proved unsatisfactory and was abandoned in favor of a copper-zinc alloy.
Lincoln Cent:
Lincoln cents were first issued in 1909, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. In 1959, the reverse was redesigned to show the Lincoln Memorial. (The Wheat Ears were on it from 1909 to 1958.)
- FRB_050927_178.JPG: Indian Head, or Buffalo, Nickel (1913-1938):
James Earle Frazer, a world-renowned sculptor, created the designs for this five-cent piece. Frazer made portraits of three Indian chiefs before undertaking the design of the Indian head. He modeled the buffalo after Black Diamond, a bison in New York's Central Park Zoo.
Jefferson Nickel (1938 to date):
Felix Schlag's portrayal of Thomas Jefferson and his representation of Monticello, Jefferson's home in Charlottesville, Virginia, were selected as the new designs for the five-cent piece in a competition that attracted some 390 entries.
- FRB_050927_182.JPG: Between the mid-1960s and the early 1970s, the silver content of new mint issues of dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars was eliminated and replaced by a copper-nickel mix bonded to a pure copper core.
Mercury Dime (1916-1945):
The silver ten-cent piece designed by Adolph A. Weinman in 1916 became known as the "Mercury Dime" because of the close resemblance between Liberty with her winged cap and Mercurius, messenger of the Roman gods. This representation of Liberty symbolized freedom of thought.
Roosevelt Dime (1946 to date):
The silver dime bearing the likely of Franklin D. Roosevelt was placed into circulation early in 1946, the year following the President's death. Roosevelt initiated the "March of Dimes" to finance research on polio.
- FRB_050927_185.JPG: Walking Liberty Half Dollar:
The flag-draped Liberty carrying branches of laurel and oak and walking toward the rising sun personified America moving into a glorious future. (1916-1947)
- FRB_050927_188.JPG: Franklin Half Dollar (1948-1963):
This likeness of Benjamin Franklin (obverse) and the Liberty Bell design (reverse) were the work of John R. Sinnock, chief engraver at the Mint.
- FRB_050927_195.JPG: Eisenhower Dollar (1971-1978):
This coin paid tribute to a great general and president of the United States and saluted America's achievement in the space program.
Anthony Dollar (1979 to date):
This dollar coin bearing the likeness of noted suffragette Susan B. Anthony is the first United States coin to honor an American woman.
- FRB_050927_201.JPG: Peace Dollar (1921-1935):
The Peace dollar, designed by Anthony DeFrancisci, was issued to commemorate the end of World War I.
- FRB_050927_204.JPG: Golden Dollar (2001 to date):
This golden colored dollar coin honors Sacagawea, the Native American guide who accompanied Meriweather Lewis and William Clark on most of their famous transcontinental expeditions from 1804 to 1806.
- FRB_050927_206.JPG: Quarter Eagle and Half Eagle.
Bela Lyon Pratt, a well-known Boston sculptor, designed the Indian Head $2.50 and $5.00 gold pieces. This design was used from 1908 until coinage of quarter and half eagles was discontinued in 1929.
Eagle and Double Eagle:
The famous sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens introduced a higher standard of coin artistry with his designs for the eagle and double eagle gold pieces of 1907-1933.
- FRB_050927_218.JPG: Gettysburg Half Dollar, 1936.
Commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
- FRB_050927_232.JPG: Grant Memorial Half Dollar (1922):
A centenary souvenir of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant.
- FRB_050927_235.JPG: Fight for Free Coinage:
William Jennings Bryan was a staunch advocate of free coinage of silver as the solution to the nation's money problems. Silver medals made during Bryan's 1896 and 1900 presidential campaigns satirized his cause.
- FRB_050927_240.JPG: The demonetization of Silver:
Coinage legislation of 1873 (known as the "Crime of '73") dropped the standard silver dollar and provided for the minting of a heavier "trade dollar," unofficially placing the nation on a gold standard.
- FRB_050927_243.JPG: Return of the Silver Dollar:
Silverites succeeded in getting legislation passed in 1878 that returned the silver dollar to the coinage system.
- FRB_050927_267.JPG: Stone Money of Yap Island.
Yap Island is located in the Western Caroline Islands, about 400 miles southwest of Guam. The Yapese use a most unusual form of money: large cartwheels of carved limestone which serve as symbols of wealth. The stones are used in exchanges between village, as ceremonial gifts for honor and tribute, in payment for house and canoe building, in arranging marriages, and in exchange for fishing rights.
Yap Stone, c 1875. This stone was quarried on Babelthuap about 1875 and carried to Yap in a schooner commanded by David D. O'Keefe, an itinerant copra and opium trader. The earliest owners of the stone are unknown. Puguw of Talangith of Map Village, the first owner of record, sold the stone to Fathgol of Bugol u Tomil in the early years of the Japanese occupation of Yap, about 1920. Cho' of Dechmur of Tomil Village inherited the stone from Fathgol. Cho' gave the stone to Andrew Roboman, Chief of the Yap Island Council, for presentation to Rear Admiral O.H. Dodson, USN (Ret.), a research visitor on Yap in 1965. Admiral Dodson presented the stone to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
- Description of Subject Matter: This museum, devoted wholly to money, opened in 1980. It's located within the Federal Reserve Board of Richmond building, in a great position above the James River. It displays money from other times (corn, a Yap stone, etc) as well a Colonial money, Confederate money, gold-backed money, etc. The tour is self-guided and a nice free audio tour is provided but you have to go through federal security as well as set up an appointment to get into the place.
- Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.)
I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com
and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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