The Santa Clara Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo to be held on April 10 – 13, 2008, will be displaying the finest 1915-S Panama-Pacific International Exposition 5 coin set known.

The historic coins and accompanying documents related to the famous 1915 exposition will be exhibited by Steven L. Contursi of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California.

The display includes the original Shreve & Co. copper and glass frame and original box that housed the coins when they were sold. In addition a $200 invoice to a buyer in Kansas dated July 29, 1915, signed by Farran Zerbe, chief of the Coin and Medal Department for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, along with the June 8, 1940, signed letter and $575 invoice from Texas dealer, B. Max Mehl, who resold the set to a Los Angeles buyer.

The coins in the set in the exhibit are certified by Numismatic Guaranty Corporation as follows:

• 1915-S silver half dollar, NGC Mint State 66
• 1915-S gold dollar, NGC MS-67
• 1915-S gold $2.50 quarter eagle, NGC MS-67
• 1915-S gold $50 octagonal coin, NGC MS-65
• 1915-S gold $50 round coin, NGC MS-67

“The octagonal $50 denomination gold coin is one of five superb condition Panama-Pacific gold and silver San Francisco Mint coins that were registered by Panama-Pacific officials as the sixth of only 24 complete coin sets produced for the event in 1915,” said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman. “The ‘Pan-Pac’ set that will be displayed at the show includes the original $200 invoice, but the coins and their original copper and glass frame are valued today at about $700,000.” (more…)

An image of the finest known 1794 Flowing Hair silver dollar, owned and frequently exhibited by Steven L. Contursi, President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California, may appear on wine bottles. Contursi recently purchased the “Little Creek” estate vineyard in Napa Valley, California, and wants to use a photo of the Neil/Carter/Contursi dollar on the wine labels.

“In recent years this organically farmed vineyard annually has produced about 300 cases of an acclaimed ultra-premium Cabernet Franc blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. The 1794 dollar is an ultra-premium coin believed by many experts to be the very first silver dollar struck by the United States,” said Contursi.

The coin is graded PCGS Specimen-66, and insured for $10 million. It is on loan to the American Numismatic Association’s Edward C. Rochette Money Museum, and will be exhibited at the ANA World’s Fair of Money® in Baltimore, July 30 – August 3, 2008.

The first bottles of Little Creek red wine produced by Contursi are expected to be released in 2011.