United States
½ Dollar (California Diamond Jubilee)
United States · Silver
The coin
The story
The California Diamond Jubilee Half Dollar
In 1925, California turned 75 — and to celebrate, it minted a coin showing a forty-niner on one knee, panning for gold. The most famous sculptor in America tried to get the design thrown out. The committee kept it anyway. Then it melted a third of the coins it struck.
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