|
Sale 34
|
|
press UP arrow key to increase the zoom ratio.
press DOWN arrow key to decrease the zoom ratio.
press RIGHT arrow key to increase the zoom window size.
press LEFT arrow key to decrease the zoom window size.
|
|
Lot 1454
1915-S Panama-Pacific Gold $50 Round. PCGS graded MS-63 PQ. Remarkably clean surfaces with very few faint hairlines. A delightful choice specimen of this singularly beautiful commemorative gold issue. Rich golden surfaces display some pale toning iridescence and a modicum of small contact marks. Indeed, this handsome, well struck coin is free of all but the most trivial marks and hairlines. The $50 round issue, along with the related octagonal format coin, is the only $50 denomination gold coin issued by the United States Mint (until the recent advent of the American Eagle gold bullion coin series, which carry a fictitious $50 face value). Just 483 of the round $50 coins were distributed, thereby creating the rarest of all American commemoratives struck during the past century. Pop 122; 78 in 64; 8 in 65. (PCGS # 7451) .
Imagine the advances in technology which had to be overcome before these massive 2-1/2 ounce gold pieces could be minted. The Philadelphia Mint's fourteen-ton medal press was shipped by train and set up at the San Francisco facility for the striking ceremonies for the Panama-Pacific $50 gold pieces. It is claimed this press could strike a coin with a pressure of 450 tons per square inch. By comparison, Morgan Silver Dollars required no more than 150 tons of force. This medal press struck 1,500 of each $50 gold piece, for a total 3,000 coins or nearly 7,500 ounces (value today at $380 an ounce = $2,775,000). Unfortunately, there were few takers at the $100-per-coin asking price and so only 645 Octagonal and 483 Round 'fifties were sold. The overage was melted.
Estimated Value $50,000 - 55,000.
|
| |
| Realized $62,100 |
|
