United States Coins
American coins have been struck continuously since the Philadelphia Mint opened in 1793, making the United States one of the longest-running minting operations in the Western Hemisphere. The coins that have come from Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, and the branch mints that preceded them carry the full arc of the country's history — from the early republic through westward expansion, civil war, industrialization, two world wars, and into the modern era.
The denominations in this collection range from the smallest copper cent to silver half dollars and beyond, spanning design series that ran for decades and wartime compositions that lasted only a year. Lincoln has appeared on the cent since 1909. Jefferson has held the nickel since 1938. The designs change slowly in American coinage — and when they do change, the transition itself becomes the story. A steel penny from 1943, a silver Kennedy half from 1964, a Bicentennial quarter from 1976: each design shift marks a specific national moment preserved in the metal.
American coins also carry their mint marks — small letters that identify which facility struck them — and those marks turn a single denomination into a geographic puzzle. The same coin, the same year, struck in Philadelphia and Denver and San Francisco, with different mintages and different survival rates. The mint mark is where collecting begins.
