Each January since joining the Raleigh Coin Club, I've assembled a list of notable numismatic anniversaries for the coming year for our newsletter And so, in keeping with an RCC tradition that now extends all the way back to 1997,1 offer a few of the more notable anniversaries for 1999.

200 Years Ago

Gold was discovered in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina - the first time gold was discovered within U.S. territory (at least by non-Native Americans). This bicentennial will be celebrated throughout the state in 1999, and will include a special exhibit at the Wilson Library on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus during the Spring and Summer.

150 Years Ago

U.S. gold $1.00 and $20.00 coins were produced for the first time; both denominations were left out of the Coinage Act of 1792 (only $2.50, $5.00, and $10.00 gold coins were authorized). Both the $1.00 and $20.00 coins featured the Liberty Head design on their obverse. Only the $1.00 gold coin was produced for circulation in 1849, however, as just one example of the 1849 $20.00 gold piece was struck as a pattern (it now is in the Smithsonian Institution's collection).

Norris, Gregg & Norris struck what are generally considered to be the first issues of private California gold coins; they were Half Eagles. Moffat & Company, one of the most important of the California private gold mints, also got its start in 1849, as did several other California firms. Private gold issues were also produced in Oregon and Utah.

110 Years Ago

The last U.S. gold $1.00 coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint, thus ending a 40-year series that included three different design types, and, at just 13 mm (the Type I issues), the smallest U.S coins ever issued for circulation. The Type II and III gold dollars were 15 mm in diameter, which puts them in third place, just behind the silver three cent pieces (14 mm), in the smallest coin "race."

100 Years Ago

The exceptionally beautiful Educational Series of silver certificates (Series 1896) were replaced with a new series (Series 1899) of silver certificates. Though artistic in their own right, the Series 1899 $1 .00~ $2.00, and $5.00 notes pale next to the notes they replaced.

75 Years Ago

The Huguenot-Walloon commemorative half-dollar was issued to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the founding of New Netherland (now New York). George Morgan designed the coin, and the Philadelphia Mint struck 142,080 of the pieces in 1924; all were distributed.

70 Years Ago

The $2.50 and $5.00 gold coins featuring the incuse Indian Head design of Bela Lyon Pratt were struck for the last time.

65 Years Ago

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Gold Reserve Act of 1934 into law and officially took the U.S. off the gold standard. The Act also prohibited the coinage of gold and the use of gold as money.

35 Years Ago

1964 marked the last year of production for our nation's 90% silver circulating coinage. Beginning in 1965, copper-nickel clad coinage was used for the dime and quarter dollar, while a silver clad half dollar coin (40% silver) was maintained through 1970.

A silver national commemorative medal was produced, in lieu of a commemorative half dollar, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Nevada's statehood (1864-1964). A total of 20,000 medals were struck by the Philadelphia Mint, and were distributed by the Nevada Centennial Commission.

25 Years Ago

The final designs for the circulating bicentennial coins (quarter dollar, half dollar, and dollar) were approved and trial strikes produced in late 1974. The coins were struck in both 1975 and 1976; no 1975-dated coins in these denominations were produced.

A national commemorative medal (NCM) was issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the San Francisco cable car. NCMs were also issued for the International Exposition on Environment (Expo '74) held in Spokane, Washington, and the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration (ARBA). The ARBA piece commemorated John Adams and the First Continental Congress.

15 Years Ago

The first U.S. gold coins to be struck since 1933 are produced to commemorate the 1984 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles, California. The $10.00 coins were produced by the Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and West Point mints; the West Point issues were the first U.S. coins to bear the "W" mintmark.

Did I miss any?

For ANSWER place cursor on the star!!

ã Copyright Raleigh Coin Club   -  1999, 2000, 2001, 2002

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