1898 So-Called Dollar HK-285a, U.S. Battleship Maine

Coin Details

Description

Early in 1899 promoters in the East planned a line of souvenirs made from the armor plate of the wrecked battleship Maine, and the Springfield Iron Co. of Springfield, Illinois, rolled several carloads of plate thin enough to be stamped or spun into pins, ash trays, inkstands, candlesticks, paperweights, medals and small models of the ship, which sold across the country. Hibler and Kappen think one or both of the Maine medals may have come from that metal. HK-285a, in white metal and 38 mm, belongs to the first type: the ship and its launch at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on November 18, 1890, on one side, and on the other a memorial to the officers and crew lost in Havana Harbor, "Feb. 15th 1898." The bronze, on a thick planchet, is HK-285.

Cross References

HK-285a; PCGS #642669; NGC #851984