For the Pan-Pac Collectors - vintage scenes from where your coins emanated
northcoin
Posts: 4,987 ✭✭✭✭✭
Having several Pan-Pac coins in my collection, including an Octagonal and the below pictured medal, I jumped at the chance to add some items of interest related to the Exposition some time in the not so distant past, and then lost track of them.
Last week I was going through papers at my office when I rediscovered these "collectibles," the first a multi-page brochure from the exposition, and the other a vintage postcard.
(Apologies for the sideways views, but Photobucket isn't letting me rotate images at the moment.)
Having spent significant time in Japan over the years (including having served briefly as a guide at one of the Pavilions at Japan's own Expo '70), I was particularly intrigued to learn of the substantial involvement and investment by the Japanese with regard to the Pan-Pac Exposition. The brochure pictured and described a complete replica of Kyoto's Kinkakuji "Temple" and gardens there on the grounds of the Exposition there in San Francisco. I also came across the below postcard printed on textured Japanese hand made paper just for the Exposition. The description on the back reads, "In Commemoration of The Panama-Pacific International Exposition -Japan- Imperial Government Railways."
Comments
Those are beautiful. I love seeing these old brochures along with photos too. The brochures show us how much color was used in those events, to go along with the coins. The photos show the people and buildings.
I have a few Pan-Pac pieces. Here's my Souvenir Certificate of Attendance. I haven't seen another.
Those are great. There is so much history associated with the Exposition itself and the coins that came out of it. A parallel to our own time would be all the excitement that surrounded the coming of the Space Age. In 1915 the first automobiles were just coming on the scene, but it was the might of the Railroads that still ruled and that reference in your images noting, "... wood used as Railroad Tie Across the Isthmus of Panama Since 1849" gives insight into what was important at the turn of the then Century. Likewise seeing the "stamp" of the Imperial Railroad with regard to Japan's involvement on one of my offered images adds similar insight into the role of railroads as a priority of the past.
Those are really great items and so representative of the time....We just seem to have lost the artistry and perspective that was once so important to people. Now, it is mostly crass commercialism.... very sad. Cheers, RickO
My second great grandmother attended the show in 1915, I have photographs and a medal similar to the one in the first post that she bought(Wisht she had purchased the $50 slug!)
That would have represented, in 1915, over $1200! I think we can forgive granny.
Fanatastic post
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Thanks for all the kind comments.
Here are some additional photos from the above referenced brochure for those who find this discussion of interest:
First, the inside page of the brochure:
Second, the reconstructed replica of the Kyoto Kinkakuji "Temple" described above, followed by a full sized replica of the Kamakura Buddha that is situated near Tokyo.
Third, in keeping with the Railroad references in the earlier posts, here is an entire exhibit sponsored by America's railroads which provided visitors to the Panama Pacific Exhibition a taste of scenic sights that one could see by riding the rails.
Fourth, is the Oregon Pavilion which recreated the Greek Parthenon with each of the columns hewn from Oregon grown tree trunks. 48 logs, each 40' high and 5' in diameter symbolically represented the 48 United States.
Just as impressive was an eastern state's recreation of Mt. Vernon for the fairgoers and Hawaii's building and art display. Once I get those transferred to Photobucket I will come back to add another post including them.
As promised, here is the Virginia State Building - a reproduction of Mt. Vernon as it was built there in San Francisco in 1915 for the Panama Pacific Exhibition.
And here is Hawaii's pavilion:
Amazing northcoin. I will be diving into your posts in this thread while my wife watches her guilty pleasure. Real Housewives. Thank yOU
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Thanks for your remembrance of a very magical time in our history. At least the coins have survived as issue to this great historical celebration.
OINK
Our ancestors did some amazing things.
Here are a few more. The first is The Arch of the Rising Sun - further reflecting the strong connection at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition between the Pacific Rim and the Orient.
Below is the Tower of Jewels, which was the Exhibition's singular most recognizable structure. For comparison, its 433 feet height is just shy of the Seattle Space Needle's 520 foot high Observation Deck by 87 feet.
It is of added significance that the structure incorporated a steel frame, a building technique that just 30 years earlier had given birth to the skyscraper, the first of which was built in 1885 - an 138 foot 10 story structure in Chicago known as the Home Insurance Building consequent from an urban vision to build upward after the Chicago Fire.
This offers an overview of the entire Exhibition site which for those familiar with San Francisco should make it easy to identify just where it was positioned vis-a-vis the harbor and coastline.
For a sense of the entertainment emphasis one can read the description of the myriad special effects that were incorporated into this exhibit that melded man's technological creations and the Biblical Creation into one exhibit.
And speaking of entertainment, Toyland, as imagineered by Walt Disney predecessor Fred Thompson would fit right in with today's heralded California theme park southward in La La Land.
A footnote regarding the Kamakura Buddha. Here is a photo I took of the actual one in Japan which emphasizes just what a feat it was to replicate it in full size for the Panama Pacific International Exposition.
As a point of interest the Buddha has remained intact since 1252 when it was rebuilt in bronze (after a storm damaged the initial version built of wood) and has survived a 1498 Tsunami (which took out the building in which it was then housed); the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 (which damaged the base); and the bombings of World War II, its having apparently not been targeted by the Allies.
Just imagine, the Kamakura Buddha has remained intact since 240 years before Columbus came to America!
And for quick reference here is the replicated version as it was constructed on U.S soil back in 1915. Note the pictured Airship which was evidently seen as the future for sky travel. The Exposition well preceded the 1937 Hindenburg disaster.
Another of the exhibits, The Palace of Manufactures, which included within textiles from countries all over the world. Reading the description reminded me of going to the State Fair with my spouse and as a consequence getting to see all the Quilt displays.
There were a number of different "Palaces" at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition. With its imposing 160 foot high glass dome, this one stood out for its unique architecture. Of added interest is that unlike some of the artist renderings of other exhibit pavilions in the brochure, this one is specifically identified as a photograph.
Just found out San Francisco was chosen by a vote.
Anyone know what other cities were in the running?
@Zoins
Just found out San Francisco was chosen by a vote.
Looks like San Diego and New Orleans were the cities vying for the honors according to this piece from the LA Times.
latimes.com/travel/california/la-tr-d-sd-sf-1915-panama-expos-20150104-story.html
The immediately above linked article has many additional details of historical interest that add insight into both the spectacle in San Francisco as well as a sister 1915 exhibition in San Diego that indirectly gave birth to the world famous San Diego Zoo.
Ironically, San Diego's present day Balboa Park has retained many of its exhibition structures, but there is only one still in place in San Francisco from the Panama Pacific International Exposition. From the above linked L.A. Times article:
"Among the significant structures, only one survived in its original location: the lagoon-adjacent rotunda and colonnades of the Palace of Fine Arts, ...."
Here is the depiction of the Palace of Fine Arts as it was presented in my Panama Pacific International Exhibition brochure that was printed in 1915
Of course for those of us here, the Panama Pacific International Exposition lives on primarily through its coins.
I recommend visiting The Palace of Fine Arts for everyone if they are in San Francisco. It's a wonderful place.
Forgive the diversion from the main topic of this thread, but it is coin related.
The question Zoins posted regarding what other cities were competing for the Panama Pacific International Exposition led me to another article describing the events of the sister exhibition - The Panama-California Exhibition - that was going on in San Diego at the same time as the Panama Pacific International Exposition. Here is the coin related excerpt relating to The Panama-California Exhibition being simultaneously held in San Diego:
"The month ended with the celebration of Japanese Day, July 30. A committee of 100 Japanese Americans decorated buildings and grounds with about 10,000 Japanese lanterns. In the morning, two Japanese aviators flew over the grounds, dropping Japanese coins wrapped in tissue paper. In the afternoon, Japanese athletes engaged in a tug-of-war, a lantern race, a spoon and chopstick race, and a fencing battle-royal in the Plaza de Panama. In the evening, Japanese-Americans, carrying lanterns and dressed in native and modern garb, paraded across Cabrillo Bridge to the tractor field.
At a banquet in Cafe Cristobal, G. Yusa, president of the Japanese Association of Southern California, told the Caucasians there assembled:
“No matter what criticism may be made, no matter what racial prejudice may exist, no matter what anti-alien law may be passed by the crooked politicians, no matter what color of hair, skin or eyes, we are just as loyal to this country and just as sincere boosters of Southern California as you gentlemen.”"
Here is a link to the full article including a listing of many historical figures who spoke at the exhibition's Organ Pavilion, from Teddy Roosevelt to William Jennings Bryan, or entertained at the Organ Pavilion to include the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The Organ Pavilion remains there in Balboa Park today. (Ironically, and on a personal note, it was in that same Organ Pavilion where I was awarded my law degree in ceremonies that were also honoring a U.S. Supreme Court justice some six decades later.)
sandiegohistory.org/archives/amero/1915expo/ch5/
Also of coin interest, the Panama-California Exhibition did generate some medals and so-called dollars, but apparently the United States legal tender coins remained the unique provence of that exhibition being held in the City by the Bay.
Great post, I like it !!!
Thanks
Located some photos I took a few months ago while flying into San Diego's airport which show the above described Organ Pavilion and other structures that survive to today there in Balboa Park consequent from the 1915 Panama-California Exhibition. The semi-circular structure in the foreground of the first photo is the Organ Pavilion where Teddy Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir spoke and performed at the Exhibition.
Here are some maps. Imagine walking around here? It would be cool to reconstruct this using VR.
The one with the building labels is especially useful for So-Called Dollar collectors
Here are some additional "Palaces" from the Panama Pacific International Exhibition brochure that if one looks closely enough can be positioned in the spectacular color Panoramic View as provided by Zoins in the above post.
Of note, they add emphasis to the recognized importance of industry and manufacturing in the subject era. It was interesting to read in one of the above cited articles that Henry Ford even had an abbreviated assembly line available for viewing that was actually turning out a limited number of completed vehicles each day.
Seeing that panoramic really makes the point that the Tower of Jewels was the Exhibitions singular most recognizable structure.
As previously noted, for comparison, its 433 feet height is just shy of the Seattle Space Needle's 520 foot high Observation Deck by 87 feet.
Again, it is of added significance that the structure incorporated a steel frame, a building technique that just 30 years earlier had given birth to the skyscraper, the first of which was built in 1885 - an 138 foot 10 story structure in Chicago known as the Home Insurance Building consequent from an urban vision to build upward after the Chicago Fire.
The Palace of Fine Arts was also a movie star in the 1958 film "Vertigo".
James Stewart and Kim Novak stroll by
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
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That's great. Now I am going to have to go locate the film
Just came across this reporting on the events that occurred there at the Organ Pavillion during the Panama-California Exhibition in 1915 and on to the beginning of the United States entrance into World War I in 1917:
"Notable events during the 1915-1916 Exposition at the Pavilion included the Mormon (Ogden) Tabernacle Choir, July 16, 1915; a speech by William Jennings Bryan, July 17, 1915; a speech by former President Theodore Roosevelt, July 27, 1915; preaching by evangelist Billy Sunday, August 9, 1915; a beauty pageant presided over by silent movie stars Francis X. Bushman and Beverly Bayne, September 11, 1915; a speech by former President William Howard Taft, September 16, 1915, concerts by the New York Symphony Orchestra directed by Walter Damrosch, April 22-23, 1916; choreography by Ted Shawn and Ruth St. Denis, August 5, 1916; and appearances by Grossmont resident and renowned contralto Madame Schumann-Heink on June 23, 1915, January 1, 1916 and December 31, 1916.
Rather than curtailing events in the Organ Pavilion, the entry of the U.S. into World War I stimulated attendance by civilians and by soldiers, sailors and marines stationed in Balboa Park. Dr. Stewart continued to give daily recitals, though these were shifted to late afternoons. The custom of beginning each concert with the playing of “America” and ending with the “Star Spangled Banner” began on April 6, 1917, the same day President Woodrow Wilson declared war."
sandiegohistory.org/archives/amero/organ/
Here is a link to a thread which includes a photo of a token that was made especially for the Panama-California Exhibition that was being held in San Diego in 1915:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/997488/scd-hk-427-always-wanted-one-ended-up-with-two#latest
Curious if anyone here has any of the other medals from the Panama-California Exhibition apart from the one displayed in the immediately above linked post?
May I see the octagon?
Pardon the graphic....The color in the picture is more silvery because of the light but it is bronze.
I'll add that to my to do list. Unless the seller has a photo archived, I'll have to take my own next time I pull it out of "storage."
By the way, is that yours posted above? Nice medal from the concurrently held Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco.
I really love my octagons; they are 5 oz each .999 silver and nobody seems to know who minted them......
This round one came all the way from Japan eBay-er believe it or not..
Nice fantasies.
I saw an auction with the issuer a while back but can’t find it now.
I was going through an old scrapbook and found that my grandmother Elsie visited the Panama-Pacific exposition in 1915.
Postcard, Pavilion of Bolivia, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, 1915
Elsie was here in 1915
Met Dell Love + went up in aeroplane.
Lyle paid for it $10.00
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
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Great post and history.
Fantastic thread.
I fixed those images for ya @northcoin
Thanks!
Going through some misplaced items, I just came across this medal from the Pan-Pac Exhibiiton:
(Apologies for the glare on the right side of the photos.)
cool medal and great thread!
Thank you for the very historic and interesting post northcoin. Were the PanPac commeratives and medals commonly available at the exposition or were they subscribed to?
The Pan-Pac commemorative coins themselves were readily available to be purchased at the exposition itself. Not sure about the medals.