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Auction: 26776 - America 250th Anniversary Sale Ft. Coins, Medals, Banknotes, Objets de Vertu & Ephemera
Lot: 225

(g) NGC MS63 | USA, 'Panama-Pacific Exposition' Quarter-Eagle of Two-and-Half-Dollars, 1915 S $2.5, San Francisco, by Charles Barber and George Morgan, PANAMA-PACIFIC · EXPOSITION, Columbia holding caduceus while seated on a hippocamp, rev. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, eagle standing left, edge milled, 4.18g, 6h (Fb. 122; KM 137), very slight softness to the highest devices, a touch of hairlining, otherwise a honey golden tone throughout, good very fine, scarce and only 6,749 struck, in NGC holder, graded MS63 (Cert. #8537689-001)

https://www.ngccoin.com/certlookup/8537689-001/63/



The Panama Canal (completed in August 1914) is widely regarded as a landmark feat of modern engineering. Its completion was cause for major celebration across the United States, and in its honour, Congress approved the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915, hosted in San Francisco. The fair also symbolised the city's comeback following an earthquake in 1906.

Alongside the exposition, Congress also sanctioned a commemorative coin series that included a half dollar, a gold dollar, a $2.50 gold piece [this coin], and two $50 gold coins (one round and one octagonal), on 16th January 1915.

The design of the coin seen here was the creation of Mint sculptors Charles E. Barber and George T. Morgan. Barber was responsible for the front of the coin, which shows Columbia in allegorical form, riding a mythical sea beast called a hippocampus. In her hand she carries a caduceus, representing medicine and the advances that had recently been made, particularly the control of yellow fever that helped enable the canal's construction.

The coins were struck at the San Francisco Mint. Although production reached the authorised limit of 10,000 strikings, demand fell short, leading to many coins being melted back down, leaving just 6,749 as the initial output.

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Estimate
$1,300 to $1,600

Starting price
$900