Norfolk Commemorative 50c
gscoins
Posts: 313 ✭✭✭
My family and I were returning home yesterday following a week at the Outer Banks in North Carolina and had a few hours before our flight left. We decided to visit the Chrysler Art Museum in Norfolk VA, founded by Walter Chrysler Jr. (son of the car manufacturing Chrysler). A pretty nice collection, especially strong in art glass (of which Chrysler Jr. was a major collector).
In the course of our walk through, I came across the actual mace depicted on the 1936 Norfolk commemorative half dollar. According to the caption for the exhibit, it was presented to the city in 1753 and is the only city mace still in the possession of the city for which it was commissioned. I thought you might enjoy seeing. The mace is certainly a prominent part of the coin's design.
Comments
That's pretty cool, thanks for sharing. Next time I am up that way I'll have to tour the museum.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Cool!
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
Now that's pretty cool (like the ocean at Nag's Head this time of year!) . thanks for posting that.
Awesome to see it.
Very cool. Great trip and photo. Thanks for posting it. I enjoyed reading up on it on Wikipedia too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_mace#United_States
Very nice...thanks for sharing that picture. The mace is far more ornate than pictured on the coin (of course) and really impressive.....I see it is silver, the description does not include the weight, do you know how much it weighs?... Cheers, RickO
I found this....
"Fuller White built the mace of eleven interlocking pieces of sterling silver weighing 104 ounces, which centered around a wooden rod. The Norfolk mace measures forty-one-and-a-half inches long from the very bottom of the base to the apex of the crown."
Full history/description here....
http://www.andrewcusack.com/2005/a-250-year-old-mace-in-the-old-dominion/
Cheers, RickO
Thank you for the excellent connection of history and numismatics,
That's great. If it's okay with you I'd love to download the picture and use it in some of my presentations.
Thanks!
Thanks to the posters of the Norfolk commemorative and to Ricko for adding to the history of the Norfolk Mace!
And, to BillJones (or anybody else), permission freely granted to using the photo - it's just one of too many vacation photos I take - the curse of the digital camera...
That's a great museum. Did you walk across the street to see the live glass blowing demonstrations they have there?
Unfortunately, we didn't see the live glass blowing building until it was time to leave for the airport. I will definitely keep it in mind for next trip! Thanks.