Immune Columbia, Pattern, United States, 1785
date: label: date made
content: 1785
name: label: maker
content: Wyon III, George
label: obverse engraver
content: Wyon III, George
label: reverse engraver
content: Wyon III, George
notes: label: Description
content: Produced at George Wyon's private mint, Birmingham, England. Obverse: Seated figure of Columbia with scales of justice and a Liberty cap, date below. Reverse: All-seeing Eye in a glory with stars, CONSTELLATIO NOVA around. This pattern accompanied a proposed contract coinage to be made in England and shipped to America. This version never went any farther, perhaps in part because the obverse die for this pattern contained a major blunder: the first word should have been IMMUNIS, not IMMUNE. A few pieces were struck in copper, and this one (using an English guinea as a blank) in gold. Such contract proposals continued through the early 1790s, but they never bore fruit. Congress concluded that it was simply too dangerous to entrust producing America's money to a foreign source.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place of issue
content: United States: New York
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
publisher: 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: U.S. Department of the Treasury, United States Mint
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1988.0063.0060
label: catalog number
content: 1988.0063.0060
label: accession number
content: 1988.0063
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: .3 cm x 2.6 cm; 1/8 in x 1 1/32 in