Lot 2168
1915-S Panama-Pacific $2.50. NGC graded MS-63. Well struck and untoned. A satiny golden specimen with faint golden zephyr-like wisps of raised curls on both sides which the coin’s designer purposely chose to give a more rustic look than plain mint frost. Nicely struck for the date, too, certainly much finer than the even some in the higher grades we have encountered, and worthy of strong bidder consideration.
The 1915-S Panama-Pacific Exposition was held at a time in our history when the art world was casting aside the constraints of its previous Victorian ways. Many new devices were being tested on America's coinage: matte proofing, rims without denticles, artistic lettering, textured fields, and the like. As can be seen, the coins struck for this expo, such as this handsome Quarter Eagle, incorporate some of these changes. Instead of a more traditional design, the artist proposed an unusual motif of Columbia seated on a mythological hippocampus, half-horse, half-sea serpent. The eagle, too, was rendered in a new way not seen before on an American production coin. It was modeled upon a similar eagle seen on one of the rare Pattern issues.
Estimated Value $3,000 - 3,100.
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| Realized $3,565 |
