1880 White Metal So-Called Dollar HK-591, Nashville Centennial Exposition

Coin Details

Description

This commemorative medal (HK-591) from 1880 celebrates Nashville Centennial in Tennessee. Centennial medals served as tangible connections to a community's founding era, with designs typically featuring the city seal, important local landmarks, portraits of founding figures, or scenes from the community's early history. Struck in white metal (a tin-based alloy), this piece represents one of the most common compositions for 19th-century commemorative medals. White metal's low cost and attractive silvery appearance made it ideal for mass-distribution commemoratives. American commemorative medal manufacturers ranged from the U.S. Mint to small regional die-sinkers, with each firm bringing distinctive artistic approaches and production capabilities to the medallic arts. The Hibler-Kappen catalog has been updated and expanded since its 1963 first edition, with later researchers adding newly discovered varieties and extending coverage into the modern era. Pre-1900 local commemorative medals are among the most historically significant in the so-called dollar series, documenting the celebrations of communities still within living memory of their founding or early settlement periods.

Rarity Notes

HK-591 is moderately scarce among so-called dollar collectors. Local commemorative medals from the Gilded Age were typically produced in limited quantities for distribution at the celebration event.

Cross References

HK-591; PCGS #643011