Owner Comments:
THIS TYPE IS SURPRISINGLY FAIRLY RARE, IN THAT NGC HAS ONLY GRADED A TOTAL OF (25) OF THIS TYPE AS OF 8/2023.
ANOTHER NGC GRADED MS 61 EXAMPLE WAS SOLD BY HERITAGE AUCTIONS IN 2022 FOR $288.00.
CALIFORNIA MIDWINTER EXPOSITION 1894, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Purpose: To bring to California, exposition of "worldwide interest and significance"; to divert public mind from Panic of 1893; to bring homeseekers to state, showing them "resources and versatility of its inhabitants."
Organization: Idea conceived by M. H. de Young, owner of San Francisco Chronicle and vice president of Columbian Exposition, while attending latter Fair; campaigned vigorously for it in his newspaper. Executive Committee created to stage event; financed by public subscriptions and contracts to concessionaires. By opening day, $730,000 had been spent "without the gift of a single dollar from the nation, state or municipality." Ground broken Aug. 24, 1893; more than 100 buildings completed 6 months later.
Site, Dates, Attendance: Center of Golden Gate Park; 200 acres cleared for purpose. Held Feb. 28-July 9, 1894; attendance over 2,255,000. Palace of Fine Arts and Japanese Tea Garden were only permanent buildings but former replaced 1917 by de Young Museum; Tea Garden remains.
For many years aluminum was more valuable than gold. Several processes developed in the 1850s lowered its price, but when the pyramidal aluminum cap of the Washington Monument was produced in 1884, the cost of aluminum was still about $1 per ounce, similar to the cost of silver.