The four denominations (one silver, three gold) included in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition commemorative coin program were the largest number of denominations authorized for a single program within the classic-era US series.
The program continues to hold its spot as the denomination leader even when the modern US commemorative coin series is considered. While some programs have more distinct coin types (e.g., 1995-96 Atlanta Olympics program with 16 design types (32 if Proof and Uncirculated versions are counted separately)) none exceeds three denominations (typically $0.50, $1.00 and $5.00), though some programs stretch the meaning of a denomination (e.g., the 2019 Apollo 11 program) by including a large silver coin (i.e., five ounces) that should be denominated greater than the $1 it is as it dwarfs the traditional Silver Dollar also included.
I thought it might be interesting to see a breakdown of the mintage figures of "Pan-Pac" coins between the 1915 and 1916 Fiscal Years (at the time, the US Government Fiscal Year ran from July 1 to June 30).
Denomination FY 1915 FY 1916 Assay Coins Melted* Net Total
$0.50 Silver 50,000 10,000 30 32,896 27,134
$1.00 Gold 5,500 19,534 34 10,034 15,000
$2.50 Gold 10,000 0 17 3,268 6,749
$50 Gold - Round 0 1,510 10 1,027 483
$50 Gold - Octagonal 909 600 9 864 645
* Includes Assay Coins
One of the interesting things that is revealed by this chart is the high percentage of melted coins found with each denomination:
$0.50 Silver: 54.8%
$1.00 Gold: 32.9%
$2.50 Gold: 32.6%
$50.00 Gold - Round: 68.0%
$50.00 Gold - Octagonal: 57.3%
Imagine what the melt percentage would have been if more of the authorized maximum of 200,000 half dollars had been struck! If all 200,000 had been struck, and the sales figure did not change from the above, the melt percentage would have risen to 86.4%!
A popular Exposition, but not a very popular coin program (at the time).
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more stories about the Panama-Pacific coins, see:
Commems Collection - including some interesting discussions of the coins' design elements found via the "Design Discussions" sub-link.
Posted 09/20/2023 7:01 pm
