For those of you not familiar with this fascinating numismatic area, patterns are prototypes for coins that, for the most part, were never approved for circulation.
Most patterns are very rare, some unique, and others unknown outside of museums.
A good place to begin is our Beginner's Corner or Photo Gallery. In it, you will see examples of many of the different pattern issues. The United States Mint produced well over a thousand different patterns, as well as many die trial and experimental pieces. Despite the great rarity of many of these individual items, the great variety makes the series surprisingly collectible. I'd estimate that there are approximately 200 collectors specializing in US patterns.