50 Dollars "Half Union" · “Half Union”

The Half Union: America's $50 Gold Coin That Never Was

In 1877 the United States Mint struck a fifty-dollar gold coin — the heaviest regular-denomination gold piece it ever attempted. Then it decided the thing was too big to spend, and quietly killed it. Only two were ever made in gold. You cannot buy either one. They sit, to this day, inside the Smithsonian.