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Brown, the Mayor of Oakland and a candidate for state Attorney General, made a campaign stop at the Long Beach Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo. One of the exhibits was Contursi’s valuable set of five silver and gold coins and related historical documents from the the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. “Mayor Brown is a long-time coin collector, and he seemed to enjoy looking at the beautiful allegorical designs on the ‘Pan-Pac’ coins,” said Contursi, president of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point. “One of the big gold coins in the set is eight-sided, the only octagonal coin ever struck by the United States Mint.” Contursi made international headlines last November when he purchased the famous King of Siam coin set for a record $8.5 million. The group of 19th century U.S. coins originally was presented as a diplomatic gift on behalf of President Andrew Jackson to the King of Siam (now Thailand) in 1836. Contursi will exhibit those coins next month at major coin shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas. The front and reverse of a rare 1915 coin minted to mark a San Francisco exhibition. |
