1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific 50 Dollar Round MS64 PCGS. CAC....

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1915-S Panama-Pacific Fifty Dollar, MS64
Low-Mintage Commemorative Key
Scarcer Round Variety

1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific 50 Dollar Round MS64 PCGS. CAC. The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition was held to celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and the recovery of San Francisco after the great fire and earthquake of 1906. Numismatist Farran Zerbe influenced Congress to authorize an ambitious commemorative coinage program in conjunction with the Exposition. The program called for a silver half dollar, gold dollar, quarter eagle, and two fifty dollar pieces, one round and one octagonal. The act providing for this program was signed by Congress on January 16, 1915, with a total of 3,000 fifty dollar coins authorized, evenly split between the two formats.

The octagonal and round fifty dollar coins both featured the same basic design, by New York sculptor Robert Aitken. The obverse depicted the goddess Minerva, who was the goddess of wisdom, and the reverse featured her sacred owl, the accepted symbol of wisdom. The octagonal pieces have the addition of dolphins in the eight angles outside the legends. The design was intended to follow the exposition theme of wisdom and industry and the Pan-Pac fifties are viewed as beautiful, elegant numismatic relics today. Cornelius Vermeule, in Numismatic Art in America, second edition, writes:

"Robert Aitken tried to create modern, pseudo-Athenian coins, in an idiom of archaeological classicism popular among many American sculptors trained partly at the American Academy in Rome before and after the First World War. His ideas were laudable. There were a minimum of inscriptions, a classic Greco-Egyptian profile of Athena in full panoply, the date in roman numerals, and a naturalistic owl in a mass of Western pine cones. ... In an overall view, the arresting feature of the giant gold coins is their archaistic treatment of details in relief. Athena's crest, wreath, curls, and aegis imitate the work of an ancient bronze. The bead and reel between the outside rims comes from Greek architecture, and the form of the lettering around the rim recalls Roman sestertii of the Empire or Papal medallions of the Cinquecento. These coins were a tour de force, dated to be sure, but unusual enough in all respects to be worthy of what American numismatic art could achieve when creativity and mint technique worked in unison."

The coins were struck on a special medal press that was shipped to the San Francisco Mint from Philadelphia for that purpose. The first coins were struck in a special ceremony on June 15, 1915, and all 3,000 authorized fifty dollar coins were produced over the next few weeks.

The coins could be purchased individually, or in sets. The asking price for the fifty dollar pieces was $100 per coin, much too expensive for the average collector in 1915. Despite the aesthetic appeal of the Pan-Pac fifties, only 483 round and 645 octagonal coins were distributed. The remainder were later melted at the Mint. The 1915-S Round Pan-Pac fifty is the rarest gold commemorative in the classic series today.

The present coin is an attractive Choice example, with well-detailed design elements and well-preserved orange-gold surfaces. Vibrant mint luster radiates from both sides, adding to the outstanding eye appeal. The 1915-S Panama-Pacific fifty dollar commemorative is listed among the 100 Greatest U.S. Coins. PCGS has graded 43 numerically finer examples. CAC: 44 in 64, 29 finer (1/22).(Registry values: N10218)

Coin Index Numbers: (NGC ID# BYLU, PCGS# 7451, Greysheet# 10215)

Weight: 83.59 grams

Metal: 90% Gold, 10% Copper

View Certification Details from PCGS