1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific 50 Dollar Round MS63

1915-S $50 Panama-Pacific 50 Dollar Round MS63 PCGS. Contrarian thinkers would be proud of the story of the 1915-S round and octagonal fifty dollar gold commemoratives. The fifty dollar gold octagonal pieces were designed as the ultimate numismatic tribute to California gold, harking back to the 1851-52 fifty dollar gold "slugs" of Augustus Humbert and the U.S. Assay Office of Gold. While it is unclear how much collective memory of those coins existed among the 18 million fairgoers to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915, what is clear is that the gold pieces were in the top rung of the many hundreds of collectible doodads, gewgaws, and tchotchkes all available for sale as mementos.
Numismatic huckster Farran Zerbe's unparalleled vision for a five-coin commemorative set consisting of two fifty dollar gold pieces, a gold quarter eagle, a gold dollar, and a silver half dollar came to pass, and singles of the various issues were offered, along with complete sets--and even double sets--for the few well-heeled enough to afford them.
The contrarian angle is this: While both the round and octagonal fifty dollars saw original mintages of 1,500 coins each plus a few assay pieces, the octagonals (possibly considered more attractive or unusual) sold to the tune of 645 pieces, while the round coins sold to the extent of only 483 pieces. The rest were melted, producing final mintage totals that are one-third higher for the octagonal versus the round. Today the round pieces command a slight premium over the octagonal pieces--certainly not 33%, but more on the order of a few percent--in any Mint State grade.
The rich orange-gold surfaces show the usual rich, satiny luster. Each side is only interrupted by minor blemishes: A few light ones can be made out on the obverse, and the reverse has an oblong planchet void (probably from a concentration of copper alloy) on the lower portion of the eagle's breast. A lovely, high grade example of the scarcer of the two Pan-Pac fifties.
From The Dan McClure Collection.

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