British sovereign, 1838 In his will James Smithson, an English scientist, provided for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution. In 1838 his bequest—105 bags of British gold sovereigns—was shipped from England, and all but two sovereigns were melted down to produce new American coins. These two sovereigns, transferred from the U.S. Mint in 1923, have since come to symbolize the origins of the Institution.

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