The Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollar was struck in 1928 by the United States Mint in honor of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Europeans. It depicts Captain James Cook on the obverse and a Hawaiian chieftain on the reverse. Only 10,000 coins were struck for the public, making them rare and valuable. In 1927, the legislature of the Territory of Hawaii passed a resolution calling on the U.S. government to produce a commemorative coin for the anniversary. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon thought the occasion important enough that, unusually for him, he was not opposed to the new coin. Sculptor Chester Beach made the plaster models for the coins from sketches by Juliette May Fraser. Approval for his designs was delayed by concerns raised by the Mint and by Victor S. K. Houston, Hawaii Territory's delegate to Congress. Although the issue price, at $2, was the highest for a commemorative half dollar to that point, the coins sold out quickly and have risen in value to over $1000.

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

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1867:

Work began on the covering of the Senne, burying the polluted main waterway in Brussels to allow urban renewal in the centre of the city. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covering_of_the_Senne

1913:

Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama, declared the independence of Tibet from the Republic of China. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/13th_Dalai_Lama

1981:

Sewer explosions caused by the ignition of hexane vapors destroyed more than 13 miles (21 km) of streets in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville_sewer_explosions

2017:

Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong- un, was assassinated using VX nerve agent in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Kim_Jong-nam

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

caressive: 1. Having the nature of a caress; gentle, soothing. 2. (linguistics) Of a diminutive: indicating affection or endearment. 3. (linguistics) A type of diminutive indicating affection or endearment. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caressive

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

The world never knows, and cannot for the life of it imagine, what this man sees in that maid and that maid in this man. The world cannot think why they fell in love with each other. But they have their reason, their beautiful secret, that never gets told to more than one person; and what they see in each other is what they show to each other; and it is the truth. Only they kept it hidden in their hearts until the time came.   --Eleanor Farjeon https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eleanor_Farjeon