Mount Vernon Acquires Newman Washington President Gold Pattern

The Eric P. Newman numismatic collection was sold between 2013 and 2018 in a series of offerings presented by Heritage Auctions. Today, proceeds from these sales support the ongoing work of the Newman Numismatic Portal, which is administered by WashU Libraries

Of the tens of thousands of pieces in the Newman collection, his favorite was a unique 1792 gold pattern produced with the thought of securing a coinage contract from the fledgling U.S. Mint. In his 1975 article “Unique gold pattern coin of 1792 jingled in Washington’s pocket,” Eric P. Newman persuasively argued that this coin landed in George Washington’s hands.

The US eventually built its own Mint, not relying on outside contractors. The Founding Fathers understood that U.S. production of its own money represented a tangible symbol of national sovereignty. Jacob Perkins, who produced the Washington coin, thus did not win a Mint contract, but went on to develop anti-counterfeiting technology related to paper money. Still, the connection of Perkins’ gold coin to the Washington estate is one of the more intriguing stories in early American numismatics.

The depiction of Washington on this coin relates to the Congressional debate of the period. In general, Federalists supported the notion of placing presidential portraits on the national coinage, while Jeffersonian Republicans opposed the idea. The issue was hotly debated, with the Jeffersonian Republicans eventually winning by a narrow margin. In the production of a pattern piece, the coiner had to guess how the controversy would be resolved. Clearly, he guessed wrong!

In 2018, this coin sold for $1,740,000 as part of the Eric P. Newman collection. After being on loan to George Washington’s Mount Vernon in recent years, the coin was recently donated by a subsequent owner to the permanent collection of Mount Vernon, where it is now on exhibit.