1898 Silver So-Called Dollar HK-281, Trans-Mississippi

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

A mounted Indian drives a spear into a running buffalo on the reverse of HK-281, the silver official medal of Omaha's 1898 exposition, with 1848 beneath the scene. T. R. Kimball, the Omaha architect who served as the fair's architect in chief, designed that side. The idea of the exposition grew out of the Trans-Mississippi Congress, a yearly meeting of western states' delegates, whose November 1895 convention in Omaha picked the city as host; an exposition company followed in January 1896. The Panic of 1893 and droughts in 1894 and 1895 stirred up opposition, but public subscription and grants from the state, the county and Congress paid the way. The obverse shows a woman's head facing left with the fair's name, Omaha and 1898. Silver, 34 mm, coined by the Mint at the fair itself.

Cross References

HK-281; PCGS #642653; NGC #851983; PCGS #513235; NGC #850491