Week Twenty-Eight

 

Coin of the Week: 1814 Platinum Half Dollar

The early 1800’s were the years when American coinage was still in it’s testing stages. What metals, designs, and sizes would work the best?

One of the many metals used to make test coins was Platinum. This “Platina” Half Dollar is unique as the only U.S. pattern coin to be made of Platinum, and the only Platinum coin authorized by the U.S. government for 183 years.

The countermarks are all letter “P”s for Platinum, and the engraving on the back says “Platina”, which stands for… well, you can probably guess what.

 

Wonderful World: Turks and Caicos Islands 1976   20 crowns

I have always had this obsession with coins on coins, so this silver beauty is right up my alley. The reverse features the four busts of Queen Victoria used on coinage during her reign. They are:

Young Victoria

 

 

Gothic Victoria

 

 

Jubilee Victoria

 

 

Mature Victoria

 

Approximate actual size:

 

Add the fact that this coin is from a very obscure country, and we have a winning numismatic item!

 

Rooting Through the Lost Art: Freedom Dollar

Frank Gasparro’s pet project, this was the Dollar coin that never was. Several test designs were made before congress did an about-face and supported the Susan B. Anthony Dollar.

Of course, because this coin was never made, we don’t really have a base image to give. Here was the final design:

And here are the other patterns:

These photos are from the National Numismatic Collection, one of the finest coin collections in the world, and all the designs are made by Frank Gasparro.