Investing in Gold: Pan Pacific Exposition of 1915 honors California's roots

In 1915, San Francisco celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. One of the numismatic legacies left behind from the exposition was derived from a California legacy. At the exposition, the mint was commissioned to strike up to 3,000 $50 gold coins. Half were to be a traditional round design and the other half were to be of the octagonal shape. Mintage figures had 1,509 octagonal and 1,509 round coins produced, but sales were only 645 for the octagonal coins and 483 for the round version. The octagonal design sold better since it had a unique shape. The rest were later destroyed.