The Virtual Collection separates numismatics — struck coin — from notaphily. In the United States that history includes both the Philadelphia mint, created by the Coinage Act of 2 April 1792, and the private copper that circulated when that mint was not enough.
This case opens with Hard Times tokens of 1832–1844 — exonumia of the Panic of 1837 — and with the manganese-brass dollar module, the same planchet as the Sacagawea and the Presidential dollars, through the 2026 Semiquincentennial type. The $1 with Donald J. Trump’s portrait is not 24-karat gold and not a private medal. The 1837 HT-34 and John J. Adams’s HT-181 store card are not federal cents.
Further types — Mint cents, half dollars, gold eagles — will be added as they are photographed, as in this country’s paper case.
This country’s paper money is documented in the notaphily case. United States · From colonial paper to the Federal Reserve
Coins in the collection
Two unslabbed Hard Times tokens — the 1837 HT-34 and the John J. Adams HT-181 store card, circa 1835 — and one unslabbed Philadelphia 1776–2026 dollar. Further coin pages will be published as they are documented.
-
1837 Hard Times token · HT-34 / Low-20
1837 · Unslabbed. Legends and date legible in the photographs; not a numerical grade.
Open the coin page → -
Hard Times token, c. 1835 · HT-181 / Low-300
c. 1835 · Unslabbed. Wear on the boar, a weakened central motto, and scattered marks. Not a numerical grade.
Open the coin page → -
$1 · Trump · Semiquincentennial 1776–2026
1776 ~ 2026 · Unslabbed (private collection)
Open the coin page →
The catalog
Four chapters, left to right: Hard Times — with its own case — the Philadelphia mint, the manganese-brass dollar, and the Semiquincentennial. Below, the 1837 HT-34, the John J. Adams HT-181 store card, and the 1776–2026 $1 documented in this collection.
1832–1844
Hard Times tokens
Private copper on a large-cent module: emergency small change and political satire during the Panic of 1837, not United States Mint coin.
Hard Times tokens were struck mainly between 1832 and 1844, in copper, brass, and white metal, on the large-cent module — about 28 mm. They did not come from a federal mint: they filled the small-change gap when the public hoarded gold, silver, and even copper cents. Jackson vetoed the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States, shifted deposits into so-called pet banks, and on 11 July 1836 signed with Levi Woodbury the Specie Circular: from 15 August, public lands were to be paid for in coin only. Van Buren inherited, in May 1837, the suspension of specie payments. Lyman H. Low classified 164 varieties in 1899; Russell Rulau reordered them with HT numbers. The Coinage Act of 22 April 1864 criminalized private striking of one- and two-cent pieces and ended that emergency small change. This case holds the 1837 HT-34 (Low-20), donkey and turtle, and the John J. Adams store card (HT-181, Low-300), circa 1835. HT-34 is not HT-33, which reads EXECUTIVE EXPERIMENT.
from 1792
The Philadelphia mint
The Coinage Act of 2 April 1792 created the United States Mint in Philadelphia, then the federal capital. That house is still the mint of this piece.
Before 1792 European coin circulated and payment was also made in kind. Congress placed the first federal mint in Philadelphia on 2 April 1792; the house stayed there when the capital moved to Washington. In its first years it struck copper cents and the first gold and silver pieces. This case does not try to cover two centuries of types — eagles, Liberty Seated, Morgan, Lincoln. For now it records a 2026 Philadelphia dollar. This country’s legal-tender paper is catalogued separately, under Notaphily.
from 2000
The manganese-brass dollar
Since the Sacagawea dollar, the 8.10 g, 26.49 mm manganese-brass module has been that of the circulating $1. The 2026 piece uses that same alloy; it is not gold.
Circulating gold dollars ended in 1933. The small cupronickel Susan B. Anthony dollar (1979) yielded in 2000 to the Sacagawea manganese-brass piece — 88.5% copper, 6% zinc, 3.5% manganese, and 2% nickel — the same planchet later used for Native American dollars, Presidential dollars (2007–2016, 2020), and American Innovation dollars. The presidential-seal reverse of those Presidential dollars is Frank Gasparro’s, with his initials FG. The Semiquincentennial dollar reuses that reverse, with 250 in the shield, and changes the edge: plain, with no lettering and no mint mark, unlike Native American and American Innovation dollars. Despite the golden color, it contains no gold.
2026
Semiquincentennial
The 2020 redesign act authorized a 2026 dollar emblematic of the 250th anniversary. The Treasury chose Donald J. Trump’s portrait for the obverse.
The Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (Public Law 116-330; 31 U.S.C. § 5112(y)(1)(C)) lets the Treasury secretary strike, during 2026, a $1 coin with a design emblematic of the Semiquincentennial. It bars portraits of living people on the reverse; it places no matching limit on the obverse. On 16 July 2026 the Treasury unveiled the type: a facing portrait by Joseph Menna (JFM), after an official White House photograph by Daniel Torok, with LIBERTY, IN GOD WE TRUST, and the dual date 1776 ~ 2026; Gasparro’s reverse with 250 in the shield. Circulating-quality rolls and bags, Philadelphia only and without a mint mark, went on sale on 2 September 2026. A separate 24-karat one-ounce gold program is not this piece. A precedent for a living president on United States coin is the 1926 Sesquicentennial half dollar, with Calvin Coolidge.
Sources
- United States Mint — Semiquincentennial Trump $1 designs (4 Aug. 2026) (opens in a new tab)
Mint release: Joseph Menna portrait after a Daniel Torok photograph; Frank Gasparro reverse with 250; authority 31 U.S.C. § 5112(y)(1)(C) and Pub. L. 116-330.
- CoinNews — Treasury unveils the 1776–2026 Trump $1 (opens in a new tab)
Specs: 8.10 g; 26.49 mm; manganese brass; plain edge; Philadelphia with no mint mark; not gold.
- CoinNews — 2 September rolls and bags and the JULY 4th privy (opens in a new tab)
Circulating quality, Philadelphia only. 250,000 pieces with a JULY 4th privy mark, a different variety from this no-privy type. Prices are not republished.
- Public Law 116-330 — Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act of 2020 (opens in a new tab)
Authorizes a 2026 dollar emblematic of the Semiquincentennial; bars portraits of living people on the reverse.
- United States Mint — About (opens in a new tab)
Founded by the Coinage Act of 2 April 1792 in Philadelphia.
- Wikipedia — Hard times token (opens in a new tab)
1832–1844 frame, private small change, and the Panic of 1837. Prices are not republished.
- NGC Coin Explorer — Hard Times Tokens (Rulau) (opens in a new tab)
Contemporary attribution by Rulau HT number, with a Low cross-reference when it applies.