20 Dollars, United States, 1849 (Utah-Mormon)
date: label: date made
content: 1849
name: label: mint
content: Mormon Mint
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: One (1) 20 dollar coin
label: Description (Brief)
content: United States, 1849
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Image: Emblem of Mormon Priesthood: 3-pointed Phrygian Crown above all-seeing eye.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse Text: TO THE LORD HOLINESS
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Image: Clasped hands.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse Text: G. S. L. C. P. G. / TWENTY DOLLARS / 1849
label: Description
content: Not all of the California gold was turned into coins in California. Some of it went north, where it was minted into currency by the Oregon Exchange Company. And some of it went east, to Utah Territory, carried home by Mormon miners who left the cities of Sacramento and San Francisco for Salt Lake City.
label: Description
content: On Brigham Young's orders, a mint was set up to turn the California dust into Utah coins. One of the prime movers in the new venture was a British convert named John Mobourn Kay. Kay forged the die blanks, engraved the dies, and, for good measure, helped in the selection of their designs.
label: Description
content: The first Mormon coins, eagles, appeared in December 1848-the very first American pioneer coins struck west of the Mississippi. Other denominations were soon added. All of them, including the double eagle on display, have radical design concepts unseen before or since. The coin on display was among the first double eagles ever struck and circulated in the United States. The obverses of these coins bore the emblem of the Mormon Priesthood, a three-pointed crown above an All-Seeing eye. The reverse displayed clasped hands, joined in friendship and solidarity, the badge of a new people stressing unity and welcoming newcomers. Few of these early Utah coins have survived. Most were melted down in the early 1850s. The Smithsonian coin is one of the finest known.
place: label: place made
content: United States: Utah, Salt Lake City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
label: Exhibition
content: Value of Money
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Feingold, Ellen R.. Value of Money, The
label: Related Publication
content: Glossary of Coins and Currency Terms
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/coins/glossary.cfm
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: United States Mint
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0441.2218
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0441.2218
label: accession number
content: 1985.0441
objectType: label: Object Name
content: coin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: gold (overall metal)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis)
label: Physical Description
content: 0 (overall die axis measurement)
label: Physical Description
content: struck (overall production method)
label: Measurements
content: overall: .2 cm x 2.95 cm; 3/32 in x 1 5/32 in