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.”

The Panama-Pacific International Exposition (PPIE) was a world’s fair held in San Francisco, California between February 20 and December 4 in 1915. Its ostensible purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase its recovery from the 1906 earthquake. The fair was constructed on a 635 acre (2.6 km²) site in San Francisco, along the northern shore now known as the Marina.

The United States Congress authorized the San Francisco Mint to issue a series of five commemorative coins. The coins were the 1915-S silver Panama-Pacific half dollar and four gold coins. The denominations of the gold coins were 1 dollar, 2½ dollars (quarter eagle), a 50 dollar round coin, and the 50 dollar octagonal coin. Zerbe also supervised the creation of a series of commemorative medals, an award medal, a souvenir medal, and diplomas. The Pan-Pac coins have the distinction of being the first commemorative coins to bear the motto “In God We Trust”, and were also the first commemoratives to be struck at a branch mint.

The mintages for all 5 coins in the set were quite small by modern standards. Just 27,000 half dollars were struck. The Gold Dollar had a small mintage of only 15,000 pieces while $2.50 had a mintage of less than half, only 6,749 pieces. The octagonal $50 had a miniscule mintage of only 635 pieces however the Round $50 was even less. With a mintage of just 483 the round $50 coin has, in fact, the lowest mintage figure of any official U.S. mint issue of the 20th Century.

At the Fair these five coins were sold both individually and in framed sets. However, not surprisingly, few were purchased. The Pan-Pac coins have the distinction of being the first commemorative coins to bear the motto “In God We Trust”, and were also the first commemoratives to be struck at a branch mint.