Wednesday, March 8, 2006
(Santa Clara, CA) -- A rare set of five silver and gold coins made in 1915 at the San Francisco Mint to commemorate that year's Panama-Pacific International Exposition will return to the Bay area for the first time in 91 years.
The "Pan-Pac" coin set, originally sold for $200 in 1915 and valued today at $700,000, will be publicly displayed during the Santa Clara Coin, Stamp & Collectibles Expo in the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5100 Great America Parkway, March 30 - April 1, 2006.
"This is the finest known surviving complete set of Panama-Pacific commemorative coins. The exhibit includes the original invoice dated July 29, 1915 when the set was sold for $200 to a collector in Kansas, as well the original copper and glass frame and the box that housed the coins nearly a century ago," said Ronald J. Gillio, Expo General Chairman.
"One of the five coins in the set is a large, eight-sided $50 denomination gold piece. It's the only legal-tender octagonal coin ever issued by the U.S. Mint," said Steven L. Contursi, the set's owner and President of Rare Coin Wholesalers of Dana Point, California.
"About 1,500 of the octagonal $50 San Francisco Mint gold coins were made in 1915, but most were melted because they failed to sell," Contursi explained. "The same fate also happened to most of the round $50 gold coins."
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition commemorated the completion of the Panama Canal and marked the 400th anniversary of the voyage to the Pacific of Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa. It was a huge achievement for San Francisco, showing the world the city and Bay area successfully recovered from the devastating 1906 earthquake.
eBay, a co-sponsor of the Santa Clara Expo, will present two educational seminars, "Buying and Selling on eBay," conducted by eBay consultant, Troy Thoreson, at noon on both Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1.
More than 500 dealers will be buying and selling rare coins, bank notes, stamps and postcards, historical documents and other collectibles. Many dealers will provide free, informal appraisals for the public's collectibles. The Cupertino Coin Club will display educational exhibits.
Superior Galleries of Beverly Hills, California will conduct the official rare coin auction during the Santa Clara show. A children’s treasure hunt will be conducted between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., Saturday, April 1, and a gold coin door prize will be awarded each day of the three-day show.
Public hours are Thursday, March 30, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Admission is $6 (good for all three days); $3 for seniors (65 and up) and children 8 to 16; children 7 and under admitted free.
Free parking is available at the Santa Clara Convention Center, 5001 Great America Parkway.
For additional information, between March 29 - April 1, call (408) 748-7055. Online:www.SantaClaraExpo.com.