1915 panama-pacific international exposition Banner

1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition Half Dollar

 

1915 Panama Pacific Obverse1915 Panama Pacific Reverse

 

Click the images above for enhanced view.

Purpose:

To celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal through the funding of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

 

Maximum Number Authorized: 200,000 pieces.

Sale Price: $1.00

 

Designs:

 

    Obverse – Charles Barber

Columbia faces left with extended arms and open hands scattering flowers. Behind Columbia stands a naked child holding a cornucopia. The Golden Gate and the rays of the setting sun are in the background. Within the coin’s border is the inscription “PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.”

 

Online Resource: https://www.nps.gov/goga/learn/historyculture/ppie.htm

Reverse – George Morgan

An eagle with extended raised wings perched on the national shield. 

 

Popularity:

60,000 coins were struck and offered to the public. Even though the coins were offered for sale at the well attended Exposition, not all of them sold and 32,866 pieces were returned and melted.

 

Panama-Pacific Exposition Online Resource:  https://ppie100.org/

 

Trivia:

  • The Panama-Pacific half dollar is the first commemorative to include the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST”.

  • It was the first commemorative half dollar to be struck at a branch Mint (San Francisco).

  • Henry Ford’s company built 25 cars each day at the Exposition. The cars were assembled at the Palace of Transportation, with a total of 4,400 cars built.

  • The half dollar was priced at $1.00 each but there was a group rate of 6 for $5.00.

 

For more information:

Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States by Anthony J. Swiatek 

KWS Publishers (2012)

 

Commemorative Coins of the United States Identification and Price Guide by Anthony J. Swiatek

Amos Press Publishers (2001)

 

San Francisco’s Jewel City The Panama-Pacific International Exposition of  1915 by Laura Ackley Heyday Publishers (2014)

 

 

References:

Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States by Anthony J. Swiatek

KWS Publishers (2012)

 

The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins 1892 to 1954 by Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen

Arco Publishing, Inc. (1981)

 

 
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