1915-S $2.50 Panama-Pacific MS64 认证号04798691, PCGS号7450

The Panama-Pacific Exposition was held in 1915 for the completion of the Panama Canal and the rebirth of San Francisco after the earthquake of 1906. As part of the exposition, commemorative coins in the denominations of half dollar, one dollar gold, quarter eagle and two varieties of quintuple eagle, were minted at the exposition. The obverse of quarter eagle shows Liberty riding sidesaddle backwards abord a hippocampus, a mythical creature half horse and half fish. In the left hand she carries a caduceus repesenting the conquest of yellow fever which had hampered the construction of the canal. The hippocampus swimming represents commerce through the canal. The reverse shows a defiant eagle perched on a pole with the inscription "E PLURIBUS UNUM" along with the denomination 2 1/2 DOL. The San Francisco Mint coined 10,017 specimens of which 6,749 coins sold for $4.00 apeice and 3,268 returned to the mint for remelting. Due to mishandling and spending most specimens are scarce but especially in gem condition (MS65). Dangerous conterfeits exits but usually can be distinguished from the genuine quarter eagles by their shoddy workmanship. All coins should be authenticated by a third party grading service before purchase. As part of the celebration of the exposition four stamps were issued. The philatelic tie-ins to the half dollars are a one-cent green Balboa, a two-cent Panama Canal, a five-cent Golden Gate, and a ten-cent Discovery of San Francisco Bay stamps.

Ron Guth

The Panama-Pacific Exposition of 1915 was a huge affair, drawing crowds from all over the country and the world to view the various exhibits and displays and to celebrate the opening of the Panama-Canal.  Five different coins, sold to customers at a premium over their face value, commemorated the event: a half dollar, gold dollar, $2.50, an octagonal $50 and a round $50.  Demand for the coins varied depending on the face value; as might be expected, the $50 coins were weakest in terms of the number of coins sold and the half dollars were the most popular.  In between were the $2.50 gold coins, the first commemoratives in that denomination.  Charles Barber designed the obverse of these coins using a mythological hippocampus to transport the allegorical female figure of Columbia across the water.  Columbia carries a caduceus as a nod to the successful medical triumph over the yellow fever that afflicted many of the canal's builders.  The reverse, designed by George Morgan, was a throwback to his defiant eagle motif used on some pattern coins from the 1870s.

Total sales of the 1915-S Pan-Pac $2.50s reached 6,749 pieces.  Those not sold were destroyed.  Though some examples were spent, the vast majoirty of the issue survives in Mint State.  PCGS alone has certified 35% of the total mintage, and their Population Report gives a good picture of the grade distribution.  The most common grade is MS64, followed by MS65, then MS66, then MS63; hundreds have been certified in each of those grades.  Superb MS67 examples are very scarce, due in part to the low relief of the design and the softness of the golden alloy.