Guide library
U.S. coinage history
Plain-English history of American coins from colonial money to clad change.
U.S. coinage history in plain English — from colonial money to clad change — written for collectors, heirs, and anyone who wants the real story without video hype.
Start here
- Colonial money before the U.S. Mint
- Continental Currency
- Early federal copper, silver, gold
- First silver dollars (Flowing Hair & Draped Bust)
- Bimetallism in plain English
- Trade dollars
- Morgan & Peace dollars
- Buffalo nickels & Standing Liberty quarters
- 1943 steel cents
- Why 1965 changed pocket change
- Little-known facts about U.S. coins
- How coin designs get chosen
Also see U.S. paper money history and visitors & physical ownership.
More
- 1933 gold coin ownership (the order)
- Eisenhower dollars (and the SBA)
- Mercury dimes · Walking Liberty halves
- Large cents
Series people actually type
- Large cents
- Indian Head cents
- Two-cent pieces
- Buffalo nickels
- Mercury dimes
- Walking Liberty halves
- Kennedy halves (1964 / 40% / clad)
- Eisenhower dollars
- Trade dollars
- 1943 steel cents
- Morgan vs Peace dollars
- Proof set vs mint set
The rest of the type set
- Flying Eagle cents
- Liberty Head / V nickels
- Jefferson and war nickels
- Barber dimes, quarters, halves
- Standing Liberty quarters
- Washington quarters
- Franklin halves
- Three-cent pieces
- Twenty-cent pieces
- Susan B. Anthony dollars
- American Silver Eagle
- US gold coin types
Also: Seated Liberty, half dimes, Shield nickels, 1916 Standing Liberty, 1996 Silver Eagle.
Symbols, grades, branch mints
- Sheldon scale · AG–AU · MS-60–70
- Liberty · Mottos · Fasces, olive, torch
- Capped Bust · Saint-Gaudens $20
- Carson City · New Orleans · West Point
Looking closer, more mints, more types
- How to look at a coin with a loupe
- Hairlines, toning, and wear
- Charlotte and Dahlonega gold
- San Francisco (S)
- Gobrecht dollars
- Draped Bust coins
- Sacagawea dollars
- Presidential dollars
- State quarters
- America the Beautiful quarters
- US commemorative programs
- Large-size vs small-size paper