1893 - Columbian Exposition US Half Dollar / US Phillidelpia Minted

This is a very interesting coin with a lot of fun facts. Very beautiful coin with a nice sail ship on it s well. Super high quality for this coin and its age. Its so shiny its hard to get good pictures of directly under my lighting.

Metal: 90% Silver
Diameter: 30.6mm
Weight: 12.50g
Updated known mintage to date: Many were melted: 1,550,405 Read the fun stuff below about this coin.

1892 Issue:The first half dollar was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in November 1892. A total of 950,000 coins were minted there,
with an unknown number reserved for assay. It is believed that none were melted. They were distributed by the World's Columbian
Exposition and Chicago banks, which sold them for $1 each.

1893 Issue: The Philadelphia Mint began production of 1893-dated Columbian Commemorative Halves on January 3 of that year.
A grand total of 4,052,105 pieces were produced (including 2,105 coins for assay purposes), but sales were nowhere near the levels
hoped for by government officials. The Mint destroyed all of the unsold coins. That amounted to 2,501,700 coins which were melted. (= 1,550,405 coins left)

We note that some of the examples that managed to avoid melting were placed into circulation. Even so, the 1893
Columbian is not a rare coin in the lower and middle Mint State grades. It is only above the BU to Gem levels that this issue assumes an aura of unquestionable rarity.

Interesting Facts: The first specimen struck was bought for $10,000 by the firm that made Remington typewriters,
as a publicity stunt. The 1892-1893 Columbian half dollar was the first U.S. legal tender coin to bear the portrait of a foreigner.