1 Sovereign, Great Britain, 1838
date: label: date made
content: 1838
name: label: ruler
content: Victoria Queen of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India
label: maker
content: American Type Founders Company
label: maker
content: Great Britain
notes: label: Description
content: This coin is one of the type sent to the United States at James Smithson's bequest for the creation of the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson was born in 1765 as the illegitimate son of Sir Hugh Smithson, later known as Sir Hugh Percy, Baronet, 1st Duke of Northumberland, K.G., and Elizabeth Hungerford Keate.
label: Description
content: Elizabeth Keate had been married to James Macie, and so Smithson first bore the name of James Lewis Macie. His mother later married Mark Dickinson, by whom she had another son. When she died in 1800, he and his half-brother inherited a sizable estate. He changed his name at this time from "Macie" to "Smithson."
label: Description
content: James Smithson died June 27, 1829, in Genoa, Italy. His will left his fortune to his nephew, son of his half-brother, but stipulated that if that nephew died without children (legitimate or illegitimate), the money should go "to the United States of America, to found at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men."
label: Description
content: The nephew, Henry Hungerford Dickinson, died without heirs in 1835, and Smithson's bequest was accepted in 1836 by the United States Congress. Smithson never visited the United States, and the reason for his generous bequest is unknown. The gift was the foundation grant for the Smithsonian Institution.
label: Description
content: The Smithson bequest consisted of 104,960 gold sovereigns. Presumably they all bore the head of the new Queen Victoria, who had acceded to the throne in 1837.
label: Description
content: The United States insisted on new sovereigns rather than circulated ones for a very practical reason: the United States would get more gold that way. The U.S. Mint subsequently melted these coins down to reuse the gold.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place of issue
content: United Kingdom: England
label: place made
content: United Kingdom
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins
label: See more items in
content: Numismatics
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
label: See more items in
content: Legendary Coins
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Zoomable Image and Details
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: Transferred from United States Mint
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1985.0441.1579
label: catalog number
content: 1985.0441.1579
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: dia. 22 mm; wt. 7.981 g