1893 Aluminum So-Called Dollar HK-767, Ada Rehan

Coin Details

Auction Record

$114 MS61 05-01-2019 Heritage Auctions

Description

HK-767 is a 1893 so-called dollar commemorating Ada Rehan. Personal commemorative so-called dollars provide a medallic portrait gallery of Americans whose achievements merited recognition through specially struck pieces, preserving the faces and stories of notable figures. Struck in aluminum, this piece reflects the adoption of modern metals for commemorative medal production. Aluminum's light weight and resistance to corrosion made it an increasingly popular choice for 20th-century commemoratives. The Whitehead-Hoag Company of Newark, New Jersey was one of America's largest manufacturers of badges, buttons, and commemorative medals from the 1890s through the mid-20th century, producing pieces for political campaigns, fraternal organizations, and civic celebrations. Harold Hibler and Charles Kappen spent decades cataloging American dollar-sized medals, creating a reference work that transformed a scattered collecting field into an organized numismatic specialty. 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

Local commemorative so-called dollars from the Gilded Age survive in varying quantities. Aluminum examples of HK-767 are moderately scarce in the numismatic market.

Cross References

HK-767; PCGS #643465