The California Diamond Jubilee half dollar was a US commemorative fifty
cent piece, struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1925. The San Francisco
Citizens' Committee wanted to use coin sales to fund a celebration of
the 75th anniversary of California statehood. A California congressman
attached the authorization to another coinage bill, which was approved
in early 1925. Designs by sculptor Jo Mora met a hostile reception at
the Commission of Fine Arts, but the Citizens' Committee would not
change them, and they were approved. The coin has been widely praised
for its beauty; the obverse depicts a Gold Rush-era prospector, and the
reverse is an adaptation of the Flag of California, showing a grizzly
bear. Some 150,000 of the authorized mintage of 300,000 coins were
struck in August 1925 in San Francisco. They were offered for sale the
following month, but nearly half went unsold, and were later melted. The
coin is catalogued at between $200 and $1,300, though exceptional
specimens have sold for more.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Diamond_Jubilee_half_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1493:
Ottoman Empire forces defeated the Croatian army at the Battle
of Krbava Field.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Krbava_Field>
1936:
Opposed to António de Oliveira Salazar's support of the
Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, the crews of the Portuguese Navy
ships NRP Afonso de Albuquerque and Dão mutinied while anchored in
Lisbon harbour.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Naval_Revolt_(Portugal)>
1954:
The 6.7 Mw Chlef earthquake struck Algeria, leaving at least
1,243 people dead and 5,000 injured, and forced the government to
implement comprehensive reforms in building codes.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1954_Chlef_earthquake>
1969:
Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 collided in mid-air with a Piper
PA-28 Cherokee flown by a student pilot near Fairland, Indiana, U.S.,
destroying both planes and killing all 83 occupants.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_Airlines_Flight_853>
1971:
John Lennon's solo album Imagine was released.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagine_(John_Lennon_album)>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
reinvent the wheel:
(idiomatic) To do work unnecessarily when it has already been done
satisfactorily by others; to attempt to devise a solution to a problem
when a solution already exists.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reinvent_the_wheel>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Even after killing ninety nine tigers the Maharaja should beware
of the hundredth.
--Kalki Krishnamurthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kalki_Krishnamurthy>