Jester's Challenge #204

1jester

Welcome to Jester's Challenge, an interactive history lesson.

Inspired by many others here on the Darkside forum, I'd like to present what I hope will turn into a great learning experience for all of us. Many members on this World and Ancient Coin Forum have done a formidable job of sharing with us many fascinating and historically important coins. Since looking at coins is also one of my greatest pleasures, I'd like to try to follow in that time-honored tradition and submit for your pleasure and entertainment some world coins I've come across in my short lifetime.

I will pick out a coin on a regular basis, and post it along with the challenge to you to name the coin, its provenance, denomination, metallic content, mintage, any distinguishing characteristics or noteworthy features, and its value. The more information, the better. I'd like as many people as possible to participate, regardless of how little knowledge you might have on the subject. I appreciate comments on every aspect of the coin, including its history, or its role in human history, or info on similar coins in its series, etc. I myself don't presume to know 1/1000 of what you collectively know, hence my challenge to all of you to share your knowledge with the rest of us. Hopefully this exercise will encourage thought, discussion, and most importantly, more friendship.

Thanks for your participation!!!

Here is the two hundred fourth selection:

wybrit

Subway token?

JMOORE

Wow, I have no idea on this one.

Subway token?

Good Guess

Jim

1jester

cladking

Hmmmmm. Looks familiar.

Someone used it for an icon. It's a neat gold medal from the New York World's Fair Hall of Education.

There are dozens of medals from this fair but typically bronze and aluminum are the metals of choice.

1jester

Cladking, I almost forgot that I'd used this as my icon!

Shipcoin

Cool thing! Mike, tell us please, what's this?!

1jester

Well, it's a quarter ounce of gold used to make a medal for the New York's World Fair of 1964-65. It's the same diameter as a $10 gold piece. Fineness is listed on the coin as 0.900, at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty. It's also done in proof, as you can see. This medal's history is very obscure, I'm led to believe. I don't know who produced it. There's some speculation that because it was gold (and it was illegal for Americans to own gold at the time), the Secret Service confiscated them from the person at the Fair who had them, along with the dies. I've asked a bunch of people about it but nobody seems to know about the existance of gold medals from this fair. I guess I'll have to wait a while longer to find out more about this interesting medal.