1962 Seattle World's Fair - Million Silver Dollars Exhibit - Slabbed Dollars Query

Haha, thats the exact medal I offered earlier. I'll take a picture of the other '62 worlds fair stuff I have later tonight. I don't remember if I have anything else about the display though.

 

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It looks like you have ingredients for an award winning display at the ANA world's fair of money!

 

That's an intriguing idea...

I had not thought of something like that, but it's an intriguing idea. If the ANA convention ever comes back to Houston, TX again, I might just look into that. Judging from some of the positive comments received here, I think it would be great fun.

 

You don't actually need to attend. You just need to k now someone that you trust that is going and have them act as your agent.

Richard

 

Lightening Strikes Twice! Another C21 Seattle World's Fair Specimen - A Peace Dollar!

Well, I hit the jackpot again. :hail: I found a World's Fair memorabilia dealer up in Washington State who had another silver dollar that came from the Million Dollar Display. This time it was a 1922-S Peace Dollar with lovely rainbow toning around the edges. I haven't graded it yet but the details look like XF to borderline AU, but it is heavily bag marked, which does not surpise me considering the way these dollars were dumped into the display cage at the fair.

What was really cool was the fact that the slab in the case this time was WHITE, instead of BLACK like the one my 1900 Morgan Dollar came in. :thumb:

I'm really pleased to have specimens of both types of dollars and two different varities of cases. I suspect all of the cases were either black or white, but who knows....maybe there were other colors as well. It's great fun trying to ferret these things out. Here are the pics:

 

Both Century 21 Seattle World's Fair Million Dollar Display Silver Dollars Together

Here are pics of the two specimens side-by-side:

 

Great to see you further increased your specialized collection!

 

Another Item: 1-Ounce .999 Silver Hi-Relief C21 Medal for Million Dollar Display

I finally managed to land one of the elusive solid .999 silver medals from the fair. Only 15,000 of these were minted and they are almost never seen individually. You usually have to spend over $400 to buy an entire set of 8 silver medals plus the bronze space medal. Since I only wanted Million Dollar Display items I bided my time and was lucky enough about ten days ago to score this medal on eBay, though it did set me back almost $70.00. Still, the thing is SOLID SILVER and it looks fantastic. I'm not normally a "medals" collector, but in this case, I'm quite happy to have added this additional bit of numismatic trivia to my growing niche collection.

Here's the pics:

 

Nice acquisition!

 

Chevrolet Ad from 1962 about the Million Silver Dollars Display

Another fun historical score on eBay: I purchased this cool original vintage ad by Chevrolet from 1962 showing off the trucks and trailers they provided to haul the dollars from Philly to the fair! Looks like they are winding through the desert somewhere out in Wyoming or Nevada! Cool! Pics follow below:



Gotta frame these to go with my growing mini-million dollar display! <BIG GRIN>

 

Thanks. Every time I find something new I feel like a blind dog in a meat market!!!

 

Looks like you need to pack it all up and get yourself on Antique Roadshow!

 

These are all interesting and related memorabilia and they will make an interesting story to develop a good presentation around. Congradulations on your effort to obtain and research them. What else do you have that pertains to your birth year? This is a very unique keepsake and I was wondering if there are some other items of interest as well?

 

More related items

I am continuing to acquire more items. I recently purchased another dollar from the exhibit - a 1922-P Peace Dollar in one of the white display cases. The case that came with this silver dollar was in much better condition than the cases that came with my two previous dollars. I've also recently acquired an original 8x10 B&W press photo taken in 1962 showing workers filling the display bin with silver dollars 9 days before the fair opened. The photo is a 1962 original from a wire service photo archive. I'll post photos of these here soon. I've also recently bought a 1962 Seattle World's Fair FDC that commemorates"Texas Day" at the fair. This was a real find for me personally because that day was April 27, 1962, which is my birthday and, yes, I was born in Texas on that day, which was a very cool confidence! The FDC was literally postmarked about 3 hours before I was born. Not a numismatic item, but it was a very fun thing for me to discover and add to this specialty collection.

 

Nice! Looking forward to pictures!

 

O.K. I'll start off with this original 8x10 black and white print from the archives of the "Entertainment Press" - vintage 1962 - taken of the Behlen employees as they filled the bin with a million silver dollars 3 days before the World's fair opened. (Not 9 days as I earlier stated.) Check out the news clip that went with the photo that is glued to the back along with the date stamps. This is not a reprint. This is a 50-year old vintage photo obtained from old news archives. It's a little wrinkled and bent and has a tear on the edge, but all in all it's still in decent shape for it's age.

 

Photos of another Peace Dollar from the $1 Million Silver Dollar Display

Here are photos of the latest silver dollar acquisition from the display: This time it's a 1922-P Peace Dollar in a white slab. This is probably the least attractive dollar coin from the display that I've acquired thus far, but it did have the most well preserved and least damaged snap-lock case of the three coins I've purchased in the past year. These snap-lock cases were pretty flimsy and tended to become brittle and crack easily and the hinges break easily too. However, the white and black inner plastic slabs that actually hold the coin are quite sturdy and seem to have held up very well for the past half century.

The 1922-P out of the case.
Obverse of dollar in case.
Reverse of dollar in case.
Dollar in case with lid opened.

 

This last item is not numismatic, but philatelic and is only included because of the personal connection it gives me to the 1962 Century 21 Expo / Seattle World's Fair. Here is the "Texas Day" First Day Cover that was issued on the day I came into this world on Friday, April 27, 1962. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was born in Houston, Texas approximately 3 hours after this FDC was cancelled in Seattle. This was a very cool find for me and I still can't believe it was "Texas Day" at the World's Fair that day.



Apologies to all for this momentary side-trip to the "dark side" of philately. :devil: Now.....back to coins!

 

Nice update and great pictures!

 

A tad off topic but I have to ask: Was the 1928 Peace in this lot a Philly???