Smithsonian Pictures
oldgoldlover
Posts: 429 ✭✭✭
I mentioned that I went to the Smithsonian a weeks weeks ago and would post a couple of pictures of the better coins on display.
Other pictures have been posted, most of which are better than I got. Many of the coins were not on exhibit but here are a couple. Hope you enjoy.
Thanks again for all those that responded to my earlier posts inquiring about where to stay and what to see. After five straight days we were spent as the heat and humidity were no better than south Texas. The people were nice and I have to say the American History Museum was tops. The gold nugget was the first one found in California.
People from all over the world were there. It is amazing how interested in U.S. history even though the country is so young. The nugget was posted as the discovery of gold in 1849 is relevant in that it was a big factor that help the country transition from a third world country to what it is today.
Thanks again for all the help with my questions.
Comments
Thanks for sharing your photos and your experiences in the visit.
As an economist, I can't agree with this statement, although I can see why you might believe this.
For economic development, it helps to have natural resources like land and minerals,
but the most important factor is "technological change", i.e. new inventions which allow people to produce more with the same resources. If you check out this wikipedia article, it lists many such changes, and does not mention the discovery of gold in California....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_States
Great pictures and that necklace is impressive..... I have panned for gold in California - actually found some. Also Arizona, Washington and New Zealand. I have a couple of nice nuggets. The Smithsonian is an awesome place to visit. Cheers, RickO
The discovery lead to a gold backed currency, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad and started the move from an agricultural based economy to industrialization by the 1920s. Couple these with free enterprise and you have rapid development. It all started with the 1849 discovery.
The development and exploitation of oil (petroleum) from about 1857, coupled with advances in the production and use of electricity, are what made the industrial miracle possible after the Civil War. Our system is still founded on and remains mostly reliant on cheap and plentiful oil.
Our financial system has generally retarded the development of the USA - and this is probably intentional on the part of the financiers. Regardless of how you feel about that, the amount of credit necessary to lubricate the wheels of commerce far exceeds the amount of physical gold available.
Gold is a snare and a delusion. It is a Chinese-finger-trap for the sentimental and weak minded.
The 1849 double eagle, sadly, appears to be harshly cleaned.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Thanks for adding the photos.
The 1849 looked scratched but in older pictures it does not appear this way. I looked a the coin as close as i could as the scratches puzzled me. The way the coins are mounted as "unique" given their value.> @BillDugan1959 said:
You are wrong!
Natural resources helped but oil was as low as 10 cents a barrel as there was no significant demand for it. Natural gas was flaired until the early 1950s.
The railroad enabled people to cross the country and populate the west. They were transported behind an engine that burned wood or coal. Oil had little value until the automobile came about. Same goes for electricity as the industrialization of our economy enabled the middle class to start buying cars and more homes in the 1920s. Prior to them the U.S. was largely agricultural based. Pipelines and power lines were no where to be seen as there was no demand for them until the country industrialized.
As far as the financial system is concerned there were poor regulations in effect but 20/10 hind sight is always easy to rehash. Gold being a snare of delusion as it was in effect the worlds reserve currency until the greenback emerged. It is where people park their wealth when the economic environment is poor. Look where it topped after the 2008 crash, about $2,500/oz.The country had to make changes to our economy and always will. I would be interested to hear of a country that has a record of increased prosperity that does not incorporate free enterprise.
If you think oil and electricity are what got the U.S industrialized you have it backwards. In 1920 the U.S. produced about 1,200 bbls/day. Railroads were the method of transporting it and they were coal fired. When the economy started to change in the 1920s oil production rose some and remained flat through the 1930s. Point is the industrial revolution was responsible for increased use of these fuels but they were not responsible for the industrial revolution, only industries that emerged from it. I live in Houston and can tell you the oil industry really took off in the very early 1940s.
During the civil war our European trading partners would not take paper money for the U.S. or the confederacy as they were not sure who would win. It was the gold that enabled the north and south to import goods. The incorporation of free enterprise was also a huge factor if not the largest reason for the transformation. It created the incentive to develop the natural resources after the economy was large enough you mentioned. You need to factor in what changes took place between the civil war and the 20s and when crude oil and electricity use increased. Its after there was demand for it not before.
The exploitation of vast new sources/ forms of energy, in the forms of petroleum and electricity are what separate the last 150 years of human history from all the millennia that came before. The discovery of oil and its distillates and by-products, and learning that coal (and other fuels) could be converted into electricity have made the modern world and its seven billion people possible.
Gold is just a commodity, and one that is much more common today because of oil. They say that gold is five times more common than in 1950, although granted there are more people since then too.
The railroads were built by people who owned banks consisting of pens, ledger books and an imaginative handling of debit and credit accounting. Everybody else involved was a wage slave to those bankers/financiers. Physical gold played a piddling role.
You are wrong. You past posts demonstrate that you have a vivid imagination and a poor grasp of what constitutes the wealth of this world and how that wealth is generated.
I have owned gold coins since 1975 and frankly, I have about broken even on it over all these years. A decent form of savings, a decent form of insurance, but nothing more. Hardly a miracle metal or the veritable foundation of civilization.
We live in a very different age than our great-great grandparents - and none of them had any gold anyway.
For mid-19th century US economic development:
Railroads were important, mainly to transport food from a wider region of farms (agriculture was still the #1 industry),
and for transporting coal between industrial areas.
The railroads mattered most from roughly Chicago - Ohio - Pennsylvania - New York.
The transcontinental railroad helped some people move to California, but didn't move as many goods as in the NE, since distances were long.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_history_of_the_United_States#The_mid_19th_century
Improved banking systems helped a lot with development. This involved making paper money stable (gold is not really necessary for this, though it is traditional).
One could even make the point that the sinking of the USS Central America (carrying much California gold) was a contributing cause to the panic of 1857.
Gold is symbolic and doesn't have that much intrinsic value (it's mostly used for jewelry these days).
Industry and population size made a difference in winning the Civil War (and most older wars).
Oil made a difference in winning WW II faster, but industry and population size would win it eventually (unless we didn't get the A bomb first).
And dragons win wars in Westeros. Watch out for those zombie dragons, though!
It's all about unlimited, cheap energy. Not gold. One can quibble on the details.
I don't think that photo was intended for grading.
It's more just to show what you can see through the glass if you visit.
Here's the photo in CoinFacts:
and here's a high resolution obverse image from the Smithsonian website:
ids.si.edu/ids/deliveryService?id=NMAH-JN2015-5732
Thanks for the post. What did you find was the best place to stay... or were not to stay? Did you find that five days was enough time to see all you wanted to see? I am thinking of a trip there next summer and am quite interested as I have never been in that area.
I would spend the money and stay close to the museum but cannot tell you which one. Google the map of hotels up and keep in mind cab fares when pocking a hotel. DC is a nice clean place except for all the politicians. Apologies for the very late response. Dealing with family problems as mom and dad are 93 and 94 as well as selling a house. been absent from the forum for most of the fall. Enjoy your trip and pay the fare to go to the large aerospace museum. Its one of a kind.
I like the high resolution photo. Its what the coin looks like. Sorta scratched up for the most valuable coin in the world.