Post Your Coins Depicting Beards!

1915 UK.
½ Crown - George V 1st type.

I figured I would post about the Norse-American Centennial medal here in the "Beards" thread at the same time as I did in the "Hats" thread, but with a different spin on its story and via a different version of the medal.

The medal is the work of James Earl Fraser. It commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first immigrants from Norway setting forth from Stavanger, Norway for the United States in 1825. The immigrants came across the Atlantic Ocean on the sloop Restauration. They arrived in New York City, and soon settled in upstate New York near Lake Ontario. Norwegian immigrants that followed often settled further west, with many laying down roots in Minnesota. The main Norse-American Centennial celebration was held June 6 - 9, 1925 at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, Minneapolis-St.Paul, MN.

Rather than develop a design specific to the 1925 centennial, Fraser crafted a design that recalled the viking explorers of circa 1000 AD and their arrival in North America. On its obverse, the medal presents a Viking warrior sporting a bushy beard coming ashore; the medal's reverse depicts a Viking longboat of the period.

1925 Norse-American Centennial Medal, Silver - Thick Variety





You can check out my previous posts about the Norse-American medal here:

- 1925 Norse-American Centennial
- 1925 Norse-American Centennial Medal - Upgrade

Other of my commemorative coin and medal posts can be found here: Read More: Commems Collection

The 1925 California Diamond Jubilee commemorative half dollar was issued to help celebrate the 75th anniversary of California's Statehood; California became the 31st State on September 9, 1850.

Two years before, in 1848, gold was discovered in California and it triggered a gold rush that would last until 1855. Approximately 300,000 people are believed to have moved to California as a result of the discovery of gold, with 1849 being the peak year; the massive influx that year gave rise to the term "49'ers."

The obverse of the half dollar picks up on California's gold history with a depiction of a circa 1849 bearded prospector inspecting his pan for placer gold. The coin's reverse depicts a California grizzly bear, the official State Animal of California and a central element of the State Flag.



The California Diamond Jubilee half dollar was designed by Joseph Mora and was struck at the San Francisco Mint.

Here's a bearded prospector panning for gold on the Mokelumne River in northern California. The river was a productive source of gold for panners during the California Gold Rush.

California Gold Prospector Panning on the Mokelumne River

Image Source: Harper's New Monthly. "How We Got Gold in California." April, 1860. pp. 598-616. Public Domain.

Just FYI: The citation above is correct for this image. Wikipedia features a cropped version of this image in its "California Gold Rush" article and incorrectly attributes it to an unspecified issue of Harper's Weekly published in 1860. This misattribution has been picked up across the internet on sites that feature the image. It's a perfect example of how Wikipedia has the potential to be a good starting point for research, but that its information always needs to be checked against at least one other known, professional, reliable source. An encyclopedia that can be edited by anyone with login credentials is bound to contain errors! Beware!


1925-S California Diamond Jubilee Half Dollar



You can read more about this coin here 1925 California Jubilee and here 1925 California Jubilee - Revisited.

Other of my commemorative coin and medal posts can be found here: Read More: Commems Collection

1936 Canada.
1 Dollar - George V with "DEI GRATIA".

Nice examples!

Excellent!

Very nice!

An old favourite for the topic.