The United States Mint released the 2008 American Bald Eagle Recovery and National Emblem Commemorative Coin Program. Public Law 108-486, the American Bald Eagle Recovery and National Emblem Commemorative Coin Act, authorizes the United States Mint to mint and issue three commemorative coins in honor of the recovery of the Bald Eagle species, the 35th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, and the Bald Eagle’s importance as a national symbol.

Photos used with permission and courtesy of US Mint

The United States Mint will mint and issue proof and uncirculated versions of the Bald Eagle Coins in a $5 gold coin, a $1 silver coin, and a half-dollar clad coin. The obverse of the $5 gold coin was designed by Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Master Designer Susan Gamble and sculpted by United States Mint Medallic Sculptor Phebe Hemphill. The design depicts young eaglets perched on a branch in their natural habitat. The coin’s reverse, sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart, depicts an image of the current Great Seal of the United States as engraved in 1903. (more…)

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.

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:

“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…)