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United States of America
The Charleston Museum Bicentennial
1973 Proof Copper Token Medal 38mm (24.27 grams)
Reference: SCI 73-32 (Franklin Mint)
THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM 1773-1973 OLDEST MUSEUM IN AMERICA, Facade of museum, palms on lawn.
HISTORY ** ANTHROPOLOGY **** NATURAL SCIENCE * DECORATIVE ARTS, Exhibits from around the world.
Edge Lettering:
73 P
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 The Charleston Museum is a museum located in the Wraggborough neighborhood in Charleston, South Carolina. It is one of the oldest museums in the United States. Its highly regarded collection includes historic artifacts, natural history, decorative arts and two historic Charleston houses.
The Charleston Museum is among the oldest museums in the United States, other museums in this category include the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts and the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. The Charleston Museum was founded in 1773 and opened to the public in 1824.
In 1920, when the museum hired Laura Bragg as its director, she became the first woman to direct a publicly funded art museum in America.
The museum’s present building was completed in 1980 at 360 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina.
The museum’s exhibits include natural history and local history displays and decorative arts, including silver. The museum is also home to the only known fossil of the extinct Pelagornis sandersi, which is possibly the largest flying bird ever discovered. The museum also owns and operates two historic house museums:
- Heyward-Washington House – late 18th-century house owned by Founding Father Thomas Heyward, Jr., Revolutionary patriot and signer of the Declaration of Independence. It is best known as the lodging of President George Washington during his 1792 visit to Charleston.
- Joseph Manigault House – Federal-style home decorated with American, English and French furnishing of the early 19th century
In addition to the two houses, the museum also maintains The Dill Sanctuary. From the site:
- “… located on James Island contains assorted habitats for wildlife and numerous cultural features including three earthen Confederate batteries and prehistoric, colonial, antebellum, and postbellum archaeological sites. The Dill Sanctuary has been protected for purposes of preservation, wildlife enhancement, research and education, and is used only for Museum-sponsored programs. Habitat has been enhanced by creation of a six-acre wildlife pond, with three nesting islands, which provides a reliable source of fresh water for animals and nesting sites for both migratory and resident birds. 2001 saw the construction of the Dill Education Center and bathroom facilities which hosts Museum education programs.”
- Charleston furniture
- Charleston silver
- Lowcountry textiles, including costumes, quilts, and needlework
- South Carolina ceramics
- Egyptian artifacts
- Archives – documentary and photographic resources
- South Carolina ornithology
- Nineteenth-century firearms
- Invertebrate and Vertebrate Paleontology Collections
- Skeletal Reconstructions of various Vertebrate Groups
- Rocks and Minerals from around the World
- Numerous Plant and Animal species collected by local Naturalists.
 The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km2), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km2). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.
.svg/85px-Great_Seal_of_the_United_States_(obverse).svg.png) Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.
 During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The Rights Acts of 1964, 1965 and 1968 outlaws discrimination based on race or color. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 U.S. Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.
The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 31% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country.
Despite wide income and wealth disparities, the United States continues to rank very high in measures of socioeconomic performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP, and worker productivity. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.
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