Editorial
Coin eras
The periods that shaped American coinage — from the colonial and classic issues to the modern commemoratives — each with its history, its money, and the coins and designers of the age.
- Civil War & Reconstruction Coins (1861–1877)A nation at war hoarded every cent it had — and the money that filled the gap still rattles in collectors' trays today.
- Modern US Coinage (1992–2025): Quarters, Cents, DollarsModern circulating and commemorative US coinage, 1992–2025 — the era that turned ordinary money into a treasure hunt.
- Postwar America: The Silver Years (1946–1964)The boom, the Cold War, and a president's death — all in the change in your pocket, 1946 to 1964.
- Seated Liberty & Westward Expansion (1836–1865)1836–1865 — when California gold remade American money and a quiet civil war was already in the coins.
- The Bullion Era (1982–2025): America's Coins to Keep1982 to 2025: the Eagles, the Buffalo, the pure-gold revivals, and a flood of commemoratives — all made to be held, not spent.
- The Early Republic (1792–1838): America's First CoinsFrom the first 1792 patterns to Capped Bust silver and Classic Head gold — a forty-year fight over what a dollar should even be.
- The End of Silver & the Clad Era (1965–1978)1965–1978 — the decade America took the silver out of its pocket change
- The Founding & the First Mint (1792–1807) | colcurA new country invents a dollar — and learns how hard it is to keep it.
- The Gilded Age (1873–1900): Silver, Money & CoinsFor a generation, Americans argued — and nearly came to blows — over whether a dollar should be made of gold or silver. The coins are the record of who won.
- The Great Depression & New Deal Coinage (1929–1939)How the Great Depression and the New Deal rewrote the country's money — minting its most legendary coin, and a flood of commemoratives along the way.
- The Great War & the Roaring Twenties (1917–1929)How a nation that had just gone to war put peace, pride, and prosperity onto its coins — 1917 to 1929.
- The Modern Dollar Experiments (1979–today)Three decades. Two coins. America's stubborn, losing fight to put a dollar in your pocket.
- The Renaissance of American Coinage (1907–1921)1907–1921: the years U.S. coins stopped being mint-clerk work and became art.
- U.S. Pattern Coins (1792–1885): The Coins That Almost WereThe coins the United States designed, struck — and then refused to spend.
- US Commemorative Coins (1892–Today): The StoryFrom the 1892 Columbian half dollar to today — souvenir coins that carried the country's stories, crashed in a 1936 bubble, and came back.
- World War II Coinage (1942–1945) | colcur1942–1945: when the U.S. Mint melted the metals out of your pocket change and shipped them to the front.