1872 Gilt Bronze So-Called Dollar HK-729, Truckee Ice Carnival

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

Truckee, California, lying just north of Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley, was the first town on the Pacific Coast to set up a winter sports program. E. F. McGlashan, a local attorney, started it as a private venture, and it soon became a yearly civic event, chartered first as the Carnival of Ice and later as Winter Sports, Inc. An elliptical Ice Palace, 150 by 250 feet, was built on Main Street, with a toboggan slide starting from its 75-foot tower. HK-729, the official medal, shows the palace, slide and trees inside a circle ringed by "Souvenir" and "Truckee Ice Carnival"; the reverse is a version of the California state seal with rays and a reclining bear, signed "Moise S.F." Hibler and Kappen head the event circa 1872, though the medal itself seems to date from the early 1890s. L. H. Moise of San Francisco struck it. Gilt bronze, 33 mm; HK-729a is aluminum.

Cross References

HK-729; PCGS #643361