2007 October : Coin Guide

The Isabella Quarter

By CoinLink on Monday, October 29, 2007
Filed Under: Featured, Commemoratives

Photos used with permission and courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries

Like the 1892-1893 Columbian Half Dollar, the Isabella Quarter was produced to help raise funds for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The lobbying party for this Quarter was the Exposition’s Board of Lady Managers, and the design was executed by Charles E. Barber. A rendition of Isabella of Castilla, Queen of Spain and the patron of Christopher Columbus, dominates the obverse. The reverse depicts a fictitious woman kneeling with a distaff and spindle–a symbol of woman’s industry. Survivors of the 24,214 business strikes distributed are difficult to locate in grades above the MS64 level of preservation, and are rarely offered finer than MS66.

Isabella of Castile The Isabella quarter was minted exclusively at the Philadelphia Mint.

Minting started on June 13, 1893, six weeks after the opening of the Exposition. There were 40,000 quarters minted but they did not sell well at the Exposition. Ultimately the unsold quarters were returned to the Mint for melting, leaving 24,191 coins.

There is disagreement among experts on the amount of proof strikes. Estimates range from 40 to 100. The 400th, 1,492nd and 1,892nd coins were double struck proofs documented by the Mint which were presented to the Board of Lady Managers. These were in recognition of the 400th anniversary of the discovering of America, the year America was discovered, and the year of the anniversary. Some early business strikes exhibit prooflike qualities, however there must be evidence of multiple strikes to be authenticated as a legitimate proof strike.

Background information the Isabella Quarter is presented from an excellent article written by Frank F. Hanisco for BellaOnline, below:

Susan B Anthony “By 1890, Susan B. Anthony was lecturing throughout the country on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. At the same time, Bertha Honoré Palmer, the wife of Potter Palmer of the Palmer House in Chicago, was focusing her attentions on improving the education and economic status of women, and was backing the ideological principle of equal pay for equal work. Susan B. Anthony saw the World’s Columbian Exposition as a stage upon which women could have an active voice in the administration and presentation of exhibits dealing with women’s interests. She enthusiastically petitioned both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate for a ‘Board of Lady Managers’ to oversee women’s activities at the fair. Congress approved funding for a Women’s Building and related expenses, and Bertha Honoré Palmer was appointed as president of the ‘Board of Lady Managers.’

Since construction for the fair was behind schedule, and the exposition’s opening was postponed until 1893, Mrs. Palmer used this opportunity to travel abroad to generate interest in the fair, and her international connections proved to be extremely successful. Not only did she secure a place at the fair to build the Women’s Building, designed by a woman architect, which was to house works by and about women, but she also managed to persuade some of Europe’s royal women to lend display materials, and she secured space in each state building to include exhibits of female interest. (more…)

1892-1893 Columbian Exposition Half Dollar

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By CoinLink on Monday, October 29, 2007
Filed Under: Commemoratives

Photos used with permission and courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries

Based on Article by Lee Gast

As the first commemorative Half Dollar struck, the Columbian half holds a special place in the long and historic commemorative series. From the first proof striking that sold for $10,000 in 1892,(The first specimen struck was bought for $10,000 by the firm that made Remington typewriters, as a publicity stunt) and to the final 1893 business strike, Columbian Halves were popularly collected at the time and in the hundred years since.

In August 1892 Congress specially authorized the coinage of 5 million half dollars for sale during the 1892 World’s Columbian Exposition to honor the 400th anniversary of Columbus “discovery” of the New World. This was the first of the great World’s Fairs to be honored with a commemorative coins. The first issue was dated 1892. The Exposition was scheduled to open in Chicago in October 1892, but did not open until May 1893, at which time additional coins bearing this new date were struck.

The obverse features the bust right of Christopher Columbus. The coin was originally supposed to be made by U.S.J. Dunbar. His design was based on a portrait painted by Lorenzo Lotto of Columbus in 1512. The U.S. Mint’s Chief Engraver at the time, Charles E. Barber, derailed any attempt by Dunbar from producing the coin, and instead took on the project, basing his depiction of Columbus allegedly on a bust made by artist Olin L. Warner.

Barber clashed with Exposition officials over the reverse as well, favoring his own design of the Western Hemisphere covering the entire reverse. Exposition officials wanted a depiction of Columbus’ flag ship the Santa Maria poised over two globes. Seeking to absolve himself of the argument, Barber delegated the task to his Assistant Engraver, George T. Morgan to design the reverse.

By the time a further quantity had been coined in 1893, public demand for the commemorative had lessened. An unknown quantity of half-dollars were used as collateral against loans made to the Exposition by banks. When the Exposition failed to repay the debits, the banks dumped the coins into circulation.

A mere 104 proofs are believed to have been struck of the 1892 Columbian half dollar, represented by the first 101 coins produced in addition to the 400th, 1492nd, and 1892nd pieces. Despite the significance of Columbian Exposition halves, proof strikings have been largely overlooked and were often mishandled by recipients, most likely dignitaries of the exposition and perhaps a few higher-ups in Washington D.C. (more…)