Louisiana Purchase Exposition Gold Dollar. McKinley Portrait

Very Rare Proof 1903 Louisiana Purchase/McKinley Gold Dollar in Original Philadelphia Mint Holder

1903 Louisiana Purchase Exposition Gold Dollar, McKinley Portrait, Proof (Uncertified), mounted in the Original Imprinted Holder with Philadelphia Mint Wax Seal Signed by Superintendent John M. Landis and Coiner Rhine R. Freed.

The coin itself is untouched since the day it left the Philadelphia Mint in 1903, with the signed certificate of issue by Rhine R. Freed, Coiner and John M. Landis, Superintendent of the Mint. The original string with tied bow surrounds the coin and the ends are closed in a red wax seal that is imprinted SUPT. U.S. MINT PHILA. with a star at the center. The wax seal shows some minor cracks but is intact and the red wax appears about as fresh as the day it was issued. The coin itself is one of the first 100 issued in Proof, and can be seen behind the hazy wax paper of issue. Although the surfaces cannot be easily examined in this aged holder, it is presumed the coin is as pristine as the moment it was placed in the holder at the Philadelphia Mint, as the holder remains unbroken from that day in 1903. There is no trace of the pencil mark serial number or counting number on the corner as mentioned by Breen, perhaps erased years ago. In one part of St. Louis, Missouri in 1904, Judy Garland was singing "Meet me in St. Louis, Louie. Meet me at the Fair" at a live-band dance pavilion. Nearby, a few days earlier perhaps, the commission of the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition and Fair was meeting in another pavilion. The promoters, patrons, politicians and organizers, along with various citizens of high standing local reputation, were cutting the ribbon for its opening. The enabling legislation had been signed by President William McKinley in early 1901. Assassinated later that year, his portrait joined that of Jefferson's in 1902 when designs were subsequently suggested and approved for the commemorative gold dollars to be distributed in connection with the Exposition. As a fundraising novelty, these gold dollar commemorative coins, the first of that denomination, were designed to specifically note this remarkable doubling of the nation's territory. The coins are dated 1903, the centennial year in which it had been intended that the Exposition was to open. The venue's construction was much delayed by bad weather, and 1904 arrived before the two designs were offered to the public. Having a face and intrinsic value of one dollar, they were to be distributed to the public at a price of three dollars/coin under the fundraising aegis of Farran Zerbe. Things did not go well. A minor scandal ensued before restitution was made, and the vast majority of those pieces authorized and minted ended up being melted. Of each design, the first one hundred minted were prepared in Proof format. Each was Individually packaged in a two-ply cardboard presentation case, as here. These special Proofs were not offered to the public, but were gifted by the promoters to various well-connected private citizens and favored Mint officials. Until purchased by the current consignor in our (Stack's) September 2009 Americana Sale, the example herein offered was previously the property of the Stack family, and spent many decades in a place of preference on the wall of our company's former offices on West 57th Street in New York. PCGS and NGC populations indicate that the majority of both Proof issues have been broken out of this original packaging and submitted for third-party certification. As such, precious few of these original holders exist at this point. Only this Proof McKinley and two Proofs of the Jefferson Portrait type with the original holders have been offered at auction in the past decade. A rare and significant piece of Americana worthy of the strongest bids.

PCGS# 7483. NGC ID: BYMG.

From our (Stack's) sale of the Stack Family Collection, September 2009 Americana Sale, lot 4527.

Estimate: $ 17000