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Item 1915PanPac Serial Number 3033290-001

New Listing

1915 Pan Pac Half NGC MS66 With RARE Historic Original Packaging!!

For the purest that demands complete originality and the very best! A very unique and seldom available combination, this offering includes the coin and the original envelope packaging signed by Florence Kahn, the first Jewish congress woman and the wife of Julius Kahn, the congressman many attribute with making the 1915 Panama Pacific exposition possible. This is a stunning certified Premium Gem example of the 1915-S Panama-Pacific half dollar, with bold luster radiating from both sides. The coin features shades of pinkish-gray and ice-blue predominating, a sensational combination that is due to the coin spending decades in the original issued envelope before being certified by NGC. The scarce almost unobtainable envelope is in excellent condition, crisp with the flap fully intact. The paper has no tears, holes or soiling, it has simply been folded and shows about 4 horizontal creases. The original container is hand-signed "Florence Kahn".

Political support for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition was organized by Julius Kahn, the first Jewish congressman from San Francisco, who served, almost without interruption, from 1898 to 1924. As the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Kahn was a powerful member of the House of Representatives. He won the day with an impassioned speech in 1911 declaring that no federal funds were required for the World's Fair in San Francisco. The entire sponsorship for the 1915 Fair would be raised by private subscription. After Kahn's passing, his wife, Florence Kahn, served as the first Jewish woman in Congress, holding office from 1924 until her defeat in the Roosevelt landslide of 1936. The Julius Kahn playground in Presidio Heights honors the congressman.

PANAMA-PACIFIC COMMEMORATIVE HALF DOLLAR

OFFICIAL SOUVENIR COIN OF THE PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION

Authorized by Act of Congress
Issue limited to 200,000 pieces

Coined at the San Francisco Mint
PRICE $1.00 EACH

Designs by Charles E. Barber

DESCRIPTION

OBVERSE: COLUMBIA SCATTERING FLOWERS; ATTENDANT WITH CORNUCOPIA, TO SIGNIFY THE BOUNDLESS RESOURCES OF THE WEST. BACKGROUND, GOLDEN GATE ILLUMINED BY THE RAYS OF THE SETTING SUN. INSCRIPTION: (larger letters) PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION - 1915.

REVERSE: SHIELD OF THE UNITED STATES SURMOUNTED BY AMERICAN EAGLE AND SUPPORTED ON ONE SIDE BY A BRANCH OF OAK, EMBLEM OF STRENGTH AND STABILITY, AND ON THE OTHER SIDE BY THE OLIVE BRANCH OF PEACE. INSCRIPTION: (larger letters) THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - HALF DOLLAR - IN GOD WE TRUST.

Address orders to:
OFFICIAL COIN & MEDAL DEPARTMENT
SERVICE BUILDING, P.P.I.E.
SAN FRANCISCO

The inclusion of the original envelope packaging adds immeasurably to this already-desirable lot. From the original mintage of 200,000 pieces, most were subsequently melted, making the net distribution only 27,134 coins. NGC has certified only a few dozen finer. Serial Number 3033290-001

$3,799