1876 So-Called Dollar HK-89c, Main & Art Gallery

Coin Details

Description

This commemorative so-called dollar (HK-89c) from 1876 celebrates Main & Art Gallery. Memorial Hall, built beneath a 150-foot dome in the Beaux-Arts style, housed the exposition's art gallery as the only permanent structure constructed for the fair and survives today in Fairmount Park. Struck in bronze, this piece combines durability with an attractive warm tone that deepens with age into a rich chocolate-brown patina. Bronze was the preferred composition for many commemorative medals due to its excellent detail retention. The U.S. Mint struck official Centennial medals designed by William Barber, while private firms produced hundreds of additional varieties. The Centennial group is the largest in the HK catalog. Barber's engraving style combined classical European training with American patriotic iconography, producing medals of exceptional technical quality. So-called dollars — defined as privately issued medals approximately the size of a silver dollar — encompass one of the most diverse and historically rich collecting fields in American numismatics. This piece is a variant of HK-89, distinguished by differences in composition, die state, or striking characteristics that merit a separate catalog entry in the Hibler-Kappen reference.

Rarity Notes

Strikings of HK-89c are scarce. Post-Civil War era medals were often distributed at events, with many entering circulation as pocket pieces rather than being preserved as collectibles.

Cross References

HK-89c; PCGS #642228; NGC #851847