Dolphins cut from quarter design

This article was originally printed in the latest issue of Numismatic News.
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Didn’t the intended design for Hermon MacNeil’s Standing Liberty quarter originally include two dolphins?

Two fugitives – or leftovers – from the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition $1 and $50 of 1915 were stranded at the left and right bases of the wall on MacNeil’s design for the 1916 quarter, but after the Mint derided them as “mad dolphins” they were dropped, or sunk, as you prefer.

Is there any specific reason for the August 1, 1834, date on some of the Bechtler private coins?

The date was added to indicate that the coins met the U.S. Mint standards established for gold coinage in that year. It didn’t make the coins official, but it was a selling point to convince the public they were legitimate private issues.

I have a Clark, Gruber $20 gold piece that really tests as gold but it is not as heavy as a normal $20. What can you tell me about it?

You have one of the 10-karat gold copies of the original coin. It does contain gold, but much less, certainly not the amount that is in the genuine coins.

I thought 1979 was supposed to be celebrated as Thomas A. Edison Centennial year with a commemorative coin and other items. What happened to the coin?

If all of the bills introduced to issue commemorative coins were laid end to end ... This one met the fate of all the rest, and died.

What was the “Resumption Act of 1875?”

It was heralded as the start toward a “hard” money economy and among other things abolished the one-fifth of 1 percent charge for coining gold bullion into coins to encourage more gold deposits with the Treasury.

Address questions to Coin Clinic, Numismatic News, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990. Because of space limitations, we are unable to publish all questions. Include a loose 44-cent stamp for reply. Write first for specific mailing instructions before submitting numismatic material. We cannot accept unsolicited items. E-mail inquiries should be sent to Answerman2@aol.com.

2010 U.S. Coin Digest Commemoratives
U.S. Coin Digest: Commemoratives 1892-1954, contains listings, color photos and current pricing of the earliest of U.S. commemorative coins.