1892-1893 So-Called Dollar HK-159a, New Metal Dollar

Coin Details

Description

Compared with HK-159, this aluminum piece carries a different Columbus: the bust still faces slightly right, but the legend above now reads "Christopher Columbus 1492-1893" and a wreath of leaves and berries curves beneath the portrait. The reverse keeps the boast "This Medal is Made of the Wonderful Metal" around an open wreath, though the words inside are reordered, so that "Aluminum" is followed by "Tasteless," "Odorless," "Ductile," "Untarnishable" and "Malleable." The 1893 date points to the year the fair actually opened to visitors, on May 1, when President Cleveland started it; it had been dedicated in October 1892. Hibler and Kappen list it at 35 mm without an Eglit number. HK-159a is aluminum, the metal it advertises, and joins HK-159 and HK-160 in a group of souvenirs that made a selling point of the material itself.

Cross References

HK-159a; PCGS #642428; NGC #851927