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Columbian Exposition |
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1893
The first United States commemorative coin was
the Columbian half dollar designed by Olin Lewis Warner. C. E.
Barber engraved the obverse showing the bust of Columbus, and
G. T. Morgan engraved the reverse having a representation of
Columbus' flagship the Santa Maria above two hemispheres.
The fanciful head is intended to represent
Columbus. It is signed B for Charles E. Barber, Engraver of
the Mint. As no authentic portraits of Columbus exist-the
earliest one is attributed to Lorenzo Lotto, 1512, some six
years after the explorer's death-Barber was forced to use
imaginary portraits for his prototypes. Three of these have
been identified. The portrait immediately came in for
criticism as resembling either Daniel Webster or Henry Ward
Beecher; the resemblances are there but beyond doubt
accidental considering the actual prototypes. The three-masted
caravel on reverse is intended to represent the Santa Maria,
Columbus flagship. George T. Morgan, the Assistant Engraver
appears to have copied it from a photograph of the
reproduction of that ship, built in Spain for the Columbian
Exposition. Morgan's initial M is concealed in the ship's
rigging.
The Act of Congress of August 5, 1892, which
authorized a maximum of 5,000,000 to be coined "at the mints
of the United States" to help defray the cost of completing
the buildings and exhibits. The coins were to be "manufactured
from uncurrent subsidiary coins now in the Treasury" (mostly
half dimes withdrawn in 1873 but not melted in the meantime).
This was the first of the great World's Fairs to be honored
with a commemorative coins; it was scheduled to open in
Chicago in October 1892, to honor the 400th anniversary of
Columbus discovery of a group of Caribbean islands, which he
mistakenly thought to be part of India. (Half dollars or no,
the Exposition did not manage to open until May 1, 1893,
remaining in operation only until the following October 30.)
The floundering Exposition, in financial
difficulty long before its doors could open, had petitioned
Congress for a $5,000,000 appropriation. What it was promised
by the above-mentioned Act of Congress was "nothin' much
before," to be sold at $1 apiece. What it got was "rather less
than 'arf o'that behind," because Congress had withheld some
1,141,760 pieces of the 1893 mintage as security to cover
expenses of awards medals and judges, and many of the coins
they did get remained unsold, to be either spent or melted.
"No reason for it, just company policy," saith the Lord unto
Job.
The Board of Gentlemen Managers of the World's
Columbian Exposition, and others alluded to below. The
Exposition was organized as of April 9, 1890, Congress
specifying Chicago as the site (Act of April 25, 1890) after
much pressure from city officials in New York, St. Louis and
Washington, D.C. wanting the Exposition to be held in their
respective cities. On a tract of 686 wilderness acres
bordering Lake Michgan and known as Jackson Park, the
Exposition people had to erect some 150 buildings,
accommodating over 9,000 paintings, innumerable sculptures and
65,000 exhibitors; a formidable task. The Board (through F.W.
Peck) made many recommendations to the Mint for designs of the
half dollars.
At first, through Board member W.E. Curtis,
they commissioned the Washington, D.C. sculptor U.S.J. Dunbar
to model a bust of Columbus based on the Lotto painting. Mint
Engraver barber rejected it. When it became apparent that the
designing itself would have to be done in the Mint, the Board
suggested that barber could adapt the portrait of Columbus
from that on a recent medal by Enrique Lopez Lorensis, which
medal was duly ordered for the Mint Cabinet Collection via the
U.S. Minister to Spain at Madrid.
However, what arrived instead was an anonymous medal, and even
this being in very high relief could never have satisfied
Barber. Slabaugh says that Barber based his portrait on a
photograph or medallic reproduction of the statue by Jeronimo
Sunel in Madrid, which statue is in turn based on a portrait
by Charles Legrand in the Naval Museum in Madrid.
We have been unable to verify this. However,
the actual prototype was evidently the plaster model signed
O.L.W., one specimen being found in the Chicago Historical
Society; its resemblance to the finished coin is so strong as
to silence any doubts.
Much the same problems recurred with the
reverse. At various times during the fall of 1892, the Board
favored different motifs. An editorial in the October 1892
American Journal of Numismatics cites newspaper stories
describing two devices, respectively the main Exposition
building with its enormous dome, and the Nina, Paint and Sant
Maria sailing westward. Neither of these proved acceptable to
Barber. Eventually, the Board decided on the single three-masted
caravel with the two hemispheres, as in the plaster model here
illustrated (also in the Chicago Historical Society).
To date no original presentation cases or holders have shown
up, though there are a few Colombians in cases originally
intended for medals. Slabaugh's "gold imprinted black leather
holder nearly round in shape, similar to small coin purse" is
apparently in this latter category. On the other hand, there
are several types of original mountings. We have no details on
these, but presume they were special badges sold to groups in
attendance on those days only. They are quite rare, seldom
exhibited.
The portrait from the half dollar is found,
minus its inscription, on one of the regular admission tickets
(a selection of the different designs is illustrated). These
were made by the American Bank Note Company, evidently copying
the half dollar-the time element excludes its being the other
way around. These tickets, but particularly the one with the
Columbus head, make excellent tie-ins at convention exhibits
of commemorative half dollars (quite aside from their being
long popular among coin collectors).
A rarer and more desirable tie-in, however, is
the $5 commemorative stamp with the half dollar portrait
reversed and again without its inscription. This scott 245,
also designed by the American Bank Note Company, its first day
of issue being January 2, 1893. Understandably, the quantity
made was very limited-only 27,350-and the stamp is now a
famous rarity.
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