1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific 50 Dollar Round MS66 PCGS Secure. CAC....

"Had Mr. Aitken essayed to place the class of art and relief on the fifty-dollar gold pieces that he gave the souvenir medal, and had given the medal some of the simplicity of the coin designs, it would have been more fitting. There would have been a medal for the prude as well as all others; and in the coins, the art world delighted and far greater profit to the Exposition. The same designs appeared on both shapes, round and octagonal. The Exposition and the numismatic world had every reason to expect the greatest example of art ever given to a coin in modern days and that each shape would be of different design. Originality was lacking; coin emblems of ancient days and the graver's work of the medieval period were depicted."

"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."