The Louisiana Purchase Exposition dollar was a commemorative gold coin
series dated 1903. The coins were designed by Charles E. Barber, Chief
Engraver of the United States Bureau of the Mint. The pieces were issued
to promote the Louisiana Purchase Exposition held in 1904 in St. Louis.
They were struck in two varieties at the urging of exposition
authorities, including numismatic promoter Farran Zerbe: one depicted
former president Thomas Jefferson, and the other, the recently
assassinated president William McKinley. The price for each variety was
$3, the same cost whether sold as a coin, or mounted in jewelry or on a
spoon. Although not the first American commemorative coins, they were
the first in gold. They were intended to help fund the Exposition,
originally scheduled to open in 1903. Congress authorized the coins in
1902, but they did not sell well, and most were later melted. They
regained their issue price by 1915, and are now worth between a few
hundred and several thousand dollars, depending on condition.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
313:
By defeating the armies of his rival Maximinus II, Roman emperor
Licinius unified the eastern half of the empire under his rule.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Licinius>
1598:
King Henry IV of France issued the Edict of Nantes, granting
freedom of religion to the Huguenots.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edict_of_Nantes>
1803:
The United States purchased France's claim to the Louisiana
Territory (flag raising ceremony pictured) for 78 million francs, or
less than US$.03 per acre ($.07/ha).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase>
1943:
Second World War: The Royal Navy submarine HMS Seraph began
Operation Mincemeat to deceive Germany about the upcoming invasion of
Sicily.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat>
2009:
A gunman went on a shooting spree at the Azerbaijan State Oil
Academy, a public university in Baku, killing 12 people before
committing suicide.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azerbaijan_State_Oil_Academy_shooting>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
sudorific:
1. In a state of perspiration; covered in sweat; sudoriferous, sweaty.
2. (chiefly pharmacology) That produces sweating.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sudorific>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
We don’t think the world can be Woodstock … Who’d think the
world could be a perpetual carnival? But we do think that the world
could rediscover values that used to be automatically produced by
culture but aren’t anymore because culture is subject to the
commodification in our world. Everything is sold back to us, targeted to
demographics. What we have to do is make progress in the quality of
connection between people, not the quantity of consumption.
--Larry Harvey
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Larry_Harvey>
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