Spencer Collection of So Called Dollars
HK-705 BR, Northampton Tercentenniary


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description: SC$1 1892 NJ HK-627 PHILLIPSBURG COLUMBIAN
Grade: NGC MS 63 BN
Owner: Spencer Collection
 
Set Category: Token & Medals
Set Name: Spencer Collection of So Called Dollars
Slot Name: HK-705 BR, Northampton Tercentenniary
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

Medal, 1892, Bz, PHILLIPSBURG COLUMBIAN CELEBRATION, New Jersey & Chicago, IL, So Called Dollar HK-627 and Eglit-309A. Bronze, NGC MS63BN, Cert# 2516699-007. Obv. Statue; above Columbus; below statue Souvenir Medal; at l. border 1492, at r. border 1892; Rv. Male bust facing part r.; above Rev. R. E. Burke, Rector; upper border legend Sts. Phillip & James Church; below bust Oct. 12 1892 / Phillipsburg, N. J. 38mm. Rarity-5. History: On August 16, 1892, a group of parishioners of St. Philip and St. James Church, Phillipsburg, NJ met with their pastor, Father Emmett Burke, at his request, to decide how to raise the necessary funds to purchase a statue of Christopher Columbus. The statue was to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landing of Columbus on San Salvador on October 12, 1492. The V. H. Mullins Company made the statue, which was selected, in Salem, Ohio. They used a design of the famous sculptor Alfons Pelzer.1 It was based on an original painting of Columbus, which is considered to be the greatest likeness of the famous explorer. It was the official Columbus picture adopted by the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago, and considered by them to be "the most pleasing and historically, the most correct". The 9-foot statue was formed from copper sheets with an internal steel armature for stability. In his left hand Columbus held a globe and in the right a pair of calipers. On his left stood a pedestal on which was a globe with a dove. When the statue became badly deteriorated, it was restored using one of the medals (maybe this one?) so that the likeness could be made more authentic. There may have been up to 4 of these statues, one of which was destroyed in a fire in Chicago in 1893 at the Columbian Exposition.

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