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The five Panama–Pacific commemorative coins were produced in connection with the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. Struck at that city's mint, the issue included round and octagonal $50 pieces. Excepting modern bullion coins, these two gold pieces are the highest denomination ever issued and the largest coins ever struck by the United States Mint. The octagonal $50 piece is the only U.S. coin to be issued that is not round. In January 1915, Congress passed legislation for a silver half dollar, as well as a gold dollar, quarter eagle ($2.50 piece), and two $50 pieces: one round and one octagonal. The Mint had already consulted artists. Treasury Secretary William G. McAdoo initially rejected all their designs. Two of them, Robert I. Aitken for the $50 pieces and Charles Keck for the gold dollar, persevered, and their submissions were used. The half dollar and quarter eagle were designed by Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, possibly with the participation of his longtime assistant, George T. Morgan. The coins were vended at the Exposition by prominent numismatist Farran Zerbe. They did not sell well, and many of each denomination were returned for melting. Only a few hundred of each of the $50 pieces were distributed, making them the lowest-mintage commemorative coins. They catalog for up to $200,000, depending on condition. == Background == Private gold pieces, sometimes dubbed "pioneer gold", were struck several times during the 19th century from locally produced bullion in areas where federal coins were scarce. These unofficial coins came from sites ranging from Georgia to Oregon. Many, ranging in denomination from 25 cents to 50 dollars, are relics of the California Gold Rush and its aftermath. The fifty-dollar denomination was struck by private minters such as Kellogg and Co. The private $50 pieces were round in form, but those struck by Augustus Humbert for the U.S. Assay Office at San Francisco, prior to the establishment of the San Francisco Mint in 1854, were octagonal. Humbert's pieces were not money in a legal sense, as Congress had not authorized them as legal tender, and were officially deemed ingots. Nevertheless, they contained their full value in gold. Bearing the denomination "Fifty Dollars", they were called "slugs" or "quintuple eagles" by the public. They circulated widely in California and elsewhere in the Far West, and were accepted on par with federal gold coins. All of these $50 pieces, public or private, are very rare and valuable today: One of Humbert's octagonal pieces, dated 1851 and with a lettered edge, sold at auction in 2010 for $546,250. The only $50 piece produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint prior to 1915 was the 1877 pattern half union, produced experimentally at the Philadelphia Mint, though it was not approved as a circulating coin. In 1904, San Francisco merchant Rueben Hale proposed an exposition in his home city for 1915, both to commemorate the opening of the Panama Canal and to mark the 400th anniversary of Vasco Núñez de Balboa becoming the first European known to view the Pacific Ocean from the Americas: in phrasing then current, he discovered the Pacific. Although the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire caused a momentary setback to these plans, it actually sparked additional fundraising. Many of the wealthiest in California gave financial support, the state matched private donations dollar for dollar, and in 1911, President William Howard Taft selected San Francisco over its competitor, New Orleans, to host the fair. The Panama–Pacific International Exposition, constructed in San Francisco by the Golden Gate at a cost of $50 million, was open from February 20, 1915, to December 4, 1915. About 19,000,000 people attended, and the exposition was a great success, generating enough profit to build the San Francisco Civic Auditorium with about $1 million remaining. The Palace of Fine Arts is the only building from the fair which remains on the site. Commemorative coins were not then sold to the public by the Mint, as they subsequently have been. Instead, a commemorative's authorizing legislation would designate a group or organization to purchase the coins from the Mint at face value, and sell them to the public as a fundraiser. Among those who had pushed for commemorative legislation in the past, and had been involved in the sale of the resulting coins, was Farran Zerbe, a collector and numismatic promoter who had by 1914 served as president of the American Numismatic Association. Zerbe was a controversial figure—some felt the coins with which he had been involved had been sold at inflated prices—but he helped promote the hobby with his exhibit, "Money of the World", which later became part of the Chase Manhattan Money Museum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Panama–Pacific commemorative coins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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