The Old Spanish Trail half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the
United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935. It was designed by L. W.
Hoffecker, a coin dealer who had been the moving force behind the effort
for a Gadsden Purchase half dollar, vetoed by President Herbert Hoover
in 1930, and he sought another commemorative coin that he could control
if authorizing legislation was passed. He chose the travels of Spanish
officer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in the early 16th century. Though
Hoffecker's hometown of El Paso, Texas, is featured on the coin, Cabeza
de Vaca came nowhere near its site. Hoffecker purchased the coins from
the Mint at face value and sold them to collectors, ostensibly on behalf
of the local museum, but in fact for his personal profit, something he
later denied before Congress. His design for the coin, featuring the
head of a cow (the English meaning of cabeza de vaca), has brought mixed
reviews from numismatic commentators.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Spanish_Trail_half_dollar>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1866:
German composer Max Bruch conducted the premiere of his first
violin concerto, which later became his most famous work.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_Concerto_No._1_%28Bruch%29>
1915:
The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire began with the
arrest and deportation of hundreds of prominent Armenians in
Constantinople.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deportation_of_Armenian_intellectuals_on_24_April_1915>
2011:
Secret documents relating to detainees at the United States'
Guantanamo Bay detention camp were released on WikiLeaks and several
independent news organizations.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay_files_leak>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
loath:
1. Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling.
2. (obsolete) Angry, hostile.
3. (obsolete) Loathsome, unpleasant.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/loath>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
The good and the bad mix themselves so thoroughly in our
thoughts, even in our aspirations, that we must look for excellence
rather in overcoming evil than in freeing ourselves from its influence.
--Anthony Trollope
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_Trollope>