IN WITH THE OLD (Part 1) by CaptBrian1

[CSJournals-migration]

Adoption Central was open over the weekend, and all came in.

 

I have now completed and added into my registry the 2nd Panama Pacific coin, the 1915 S MS67, and the third set of Quarter Eagle Indians. The PanPac is the highest grade but the population is somewhat high, but seems to fit very nicely in the collection.

 

Teddy Roosevelt got the Panama Canal dug, finished in August of 1914. I think the Panama Canal ranks with the greatest achievments of mankind. The formidable obstacles in creating this wonder of mankind were most remarkable. The French attempt, to say the lease, crashed and burned.(wasting almost $300 Million) The opening of the canal was to be commemorated by the mint making and selling these Panama Pacific coins at the San Francisco World's fair. The coins were offered in four ways; Half dollar, Gold Dollar. Quarter Eagle (of which two reside in my collection) and a fifty dollar coin. With just a tad over 10,000 coins minted,but only 6766 coins were sold. My PanPac is not the rarest, but the grade of MS67 is the highest, so it makes a nice addition to the collection here.

 

The Reverse design was from George Morgan and Charles E. Barber did the obverse.

 

One of the reasons this coin is always in demand is the attractie design. The Marina and colonade at the Exploratorium still is there for you to visit. The coin is known as the PanPac. The coin displays Columbia, holding a caduceus in her left hand to commemorate the Army Medical Corps' victory of the deadly malaria outbreak that took place during the time of the Panama Canal being built. Its reverse depicts an eagle striding atop a column. This coin is one of only two Quarter Eagle coins issued in the classic commemorative series and by far the more scarce and elusive. Even moreso in MS-64 or higher. The other $2.50 Quarter Eagle is the far more easily accessible 1926 Sesquicentennial.

 

I think my coin got such a high grade due to the high luster remaining and very high eye appeal. These are also getting quite hard to find one for sale although we know there are some around, no one wants to sell.

 

Next journal will be about my three sets of Quarter Eagle Indians just completed.

See you at the F.U.N. Show in Orlando, Florida in January

Captain Brian

 

See more journals by CaptBrian1

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

Not to get way off of topic about coins, but I actually think that the building of the Panama Canal, while a great achievement, is one of the biggest crimes committed by the United States in the 20th century.

 

The French did fail miserably. But it wasn't because they couldn't build the canal. Most of the problems were a result of people stealing money from the project. France was thousands of miles away from the project. And stealing money and equipment was probably like taking candy from a baby.

 

The United States, on the other hand, actually help start a separatist movement to get the project into America's hands. At the time Panama was not its own country, it was a part of Colombia. The U.S. wanted control of the Panama Canal. But the Colombian government wasn't going to give it to the U.S. completely.

 

So the United States simply went to the region we know now as Panama, worked the local people up about rights and freedom, armed and trained them, and essentially sparked the separation of Panama from Colombia. In exchange, the U.S. was given the right to purchase the remnants of the French attempt, among other things.

 

I say this is a major "crime" on the part of the U.S. because the local people fought and died, not in the name of freedom or any human right, but rather over money and power for America. In other words, they were tricked. The U.S. basically worked up the local people to fight so that America would eventually gain control over the canal. I don't believe that America had any interest in the rights of the locals.

 

I mean there's no doubt that the Panama Canal greatly helped the American economy. But is the improvement of the U.S. economy justified as an end for the death of thousands of people?

 

Unfortunately, I think the answer was (and still is today) yes.

 

Luke

[CaptBrian]

Luke:

Yup, you sure got off the track, and I am quite politically motivated to involve myself in that which degrades America in any way. I like all the facts not just the negative ones. Without America, what a forlorn world this would be. From the look of your comment, near the end you set history open, but agree with the 'misdeed'.

I suppose if you want to make an omelet.... and so on, but I also like to look at us Americans in a favorable light, and being we come from the human race, not all actions, in retrospect, are totally honorable, but I perceive that very likely, there would not be an America at all should we have not dug the canal.

 

In any case, it is the coin itself and the true meaning behind it which I feel is totally positive and your comment, although probably historically correct, leaves out much which is positive and I shall not go further.

 

I love my coin(s) and my country and will proudly exibit them for your approval at the coin shows of America, beginning with the Florida United Numismatic show in Orlando Florida next month. Perhaps we can meet and discuss politics, but you had better be ready. haha

Thanks for the light on the subject.

Capt. Brian

[RichH]

Definitely a great obverse design by Charles E. Barber with the goddess Columbia seated on the mythical hippocampus symbolizing the use of the canal and the economic power & greatness of the United States.

 

Rich

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

yeah sorry for the rant. once i get started...

 

funny you should mention the F.U.N. show. i've actually never been to it. but was thinking about going this year, if just to escape the cold weather for a week.

 

but yeah, in general, i feel very conflicted about things like this. like you said, to make an omelet... thing is, no one wants to be one of the eggs that get broken. but i suppose it's like everything in life...to get something, you have to sacrifice something else.

 

i definitely will let you know about the show. FL is one of those places that i rarely get to. baltimore to orlando is a 12+ hour drive or a 2 hour flight. so it's like too far to drive and barely worth going through the airports for a 120 minute flight. i actually just looked and there is an amtrak train that goes down there. never knew that. might do that.

[hunter's gold]

Mr. Smith Guesser you should think about coming to the FUN Show. I am a native Floridian and this actually will be my first show. There are many fellow collectors on here that will be there. 3 of the top 5 Lincoln 59-Date circulation issue/mint state sets will be there along with CaptBrian and many more that I know of.

[CaptBrian]

Yes, My table is booth/table # 538. There will be over 1000 tables, and it is the worlds largest coin show. Lottsa goodies, give-a-ways and so on, I like the acronym, FUN show. Even if you don't acquire anything, it is an amazing display.

Capt. B

[Mohawk]

Luke,

As an aspiring historian myself, I rather enjoyed your history of the Panama Canal in this post. It's important for the people of any society to know and acknowledge their nation's history, both good and bad. Because every nation has both, and to lose sight of that bad history could force us to live the old adage about repeating it.

~Tom

 

[Mr. Smith Guesser]

Tom,

 

Agreed. 100%.

 

But about the F.U.N. show...Does anyone know how the onsite grading works? NGC has done onsite grading at every Whitman Show that I've been to here in Baltimore, but I've never used it.

 

I'm assuming that they don't slab coins onsite. Do they just assign a grade and then its up to you to send it in for slabbing?