1915-S Panama-Pacific Fifty Dollar Octagonal NGC AU-55
The Panama-Pacific fifty dollar octagonal gold commemorative released during the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, piques several collecting interests.
1915-S Panama-Pacific Fifty Dollar Octagonal
It is one of just eight classic gold commemoratives, those produced from 1903 to 1926. It reminds one of the gold pieces first produced by Augustus Humbert in 1851 as United States Assayer of Gold in California, thus recalling the heritage of private and Territorial gold issues. And it is beautiful !
Shortly after the United States started work on the Panama Canal in 1904, Reuben Hale and other members of the San Francisco Merchant’s Association proposed an exposition. Not only would the event celebrate San Francisco’s status as the major West Coast port for canal traffic, but it would also mark the 400th anniversary of Vasco Nuñez de Balboa’s discovery of the Pacific Ocean.
Robert Aitken, a New York artist, was selected to prepare designs for the fifty dollar gold coins.
The obverse of both fifty dollar coins depicts the Roman goddess Minerva, while the reverse displays an owl, said to be sacred to Minerva and a symbol of wisdom. Some suggest that the motifs alluded to the need for America to be watchful and prepared on the eve of this country’s involvement in World War I, already raging in Europe. The basic round and octagonal designs were the same, everything from the outer text ring inward, though reduced in size for the octagonal piece. On both obverse and reverse Aitken placed an unbroken circle of dolphins into the spaces provided by the angled corners of the octagonal design. Dolphins were considered friends and guardians of sailors, and were symbolic of the new connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans provided by the Canal.
A rare and beautiful example of a historic issue.
