1898 HK-285, U.S. Battleship Maine Dollar

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

The battleship Maine, commanded by Captain Charles D. Sigsbee, was sent to Havana in January 1898 on a goodwill visit and blew up in the harbor on February 15, 1898, killing 264 men and 2 officers. HK-285 commemorates them. Its reverse is lettered in memory of the officers and crew who died aboard the ship in Havana Harbor, with the date of the disaster. The obverse shows the battleship over the spaced letters M*A*I*N*E and a row of five stars, with a note that she was launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on November 18, 1890, and the microscopic signature of R. Sneider of New York. This is the bronze striking, on a thick planchet, 38 mm; a white metal version is HK-285a. Hibler and Kappen could not settle who issued it, though evidence suggests metal from the ship itself may have been used.

Cross References

HK-285; PCGS #642666; NGC #850500