The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge half dollar is a fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936 as a commemorative coin. One of many commemoratives issued that year, it was designed by Jacques Schnier and honors the opening of the Bay Bridge that November. One side of the coin depicts a grizzly bear, a symbol of California, and the other shows the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, with the Ferry Building. Congress passed authorizing legislation for the coin in 1936. Schnier's models were approved and the coins were struck at the San Francisco Mint. Just over 70,000 coins were sold, by mail, in person, and from booths at the Bay Bridge's approaches, making it the first commemorative coin to be sold on a drive-in basis. The coins were taken off sale in February 1937, with the unsold remainder returned to the Mint for redemption and melting. The Bay Bridge half dollar catalogs in the low hundreds of dollars, depending on condition..

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Mint

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1438:

Nine leaders of the Transylvanian peasant revolt were executed at Torda. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transylvanian_peasant_revolt

1920:

The signing of the Treaty of Tartu ended the Estonian War of Independence, with Russia agreeing to recognize the independence of Estonia and renounce in perpetuity all rights to its territory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Tartu_%28Russian%E2%80%93Estonian%29

1934:

The Export–Import Bank of the United States (seal pictured), the country's official export credit agency, was established. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Export%E2%80%93Import_Bank_of_the_United_States

2007:

Following a Derby di Sicilia match in Catania, football violence caused the death of police officer Filippo Raciti, leading to new safety regulations at Italian sporting events. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Catania_football_violence

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Imbolc: (Britain, Ireland) A Gaelic and Wiccan festival celebrated on 1 or 2 February which marks the beginning of spring. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Imbolc

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Pity is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the sufferer. Terror is the feeling which arrests the mind in the presence of whatsoever is grave and constant in human sufferings and unites it with the secret cause.   --A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/A_Portrait_of_the_Artist_as_a_Young_Man