Chicago World’s Fair medal that looks like a coin

The auction-house staffer handed me a blue case with a silver coin resting cushiony in blue velvet. I’m not much into coins so I had breezed right past the case, which would have beckoned most coin collectors to stop and take a look.

He lifted the coin from its bed and opened it. That’s when I saw that it was not a coin but a medal with a succession of accordion-like pages of beautiful images. They were 14 colorful and intricate drawings of buildings from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, commonly known as the Chicago World’s Fair.

On the front of the coin was an engraving of Christopher Columbus with the year of his arrival on the shores of this country in 1492 and the year the souvenir was made, 1892. The fair was organized to celebrate the 400 years in between. On the back was the inscription “U.S. Man of War” below an engraving of a ship – the Illinois, a mock vessel that was made specifically for the naval exhibit at the fair.

The Chicago fair drew more than 27 million visitors to a city that 20 years before had seen a devastating fire that had turned much of its downtown into ashes. Now, it was not only celebrating the progress of the country but also its own rebirth.

Forty-six nations set up pavilions, and Columbus’ three ships were re-created. The most dramatic display was the Great Basin pool that served as a reminder of how long it took Columbus to sail from Spain. The fair also boasted some firsts: a ferris wheel and candied popcorn.

African Americans such as Frederick Douglass and journalist Ida B. Wells agitated to get more participation of blacks into planning for the fair, but they were rebuffed. Fair officials set aside one day as “Colored American Day,” where Douglass spoke and black visitors were offered watermelons. Positive images of blacks were non-existent; among the worst display was a fake African village where blacks were depicted as savages.

For others, the fair offered a respite and plenty of souvenirs, including coins, badges, pins, tokens and medals. Some of them were struck by the U.S. Mint and others sold by private vendors in bronze, aluminum and copper (and in some cases, combined with hints of silver and brass). More than 100 medals and tokens were said to have been produced by various groups. About five million half-dollars were minted at the behest of Congress, along with 40,000 quarters with the image of Queen Isabella of Spain. They sold for $1 each and are known as so-called dollar coins.

The coin in the box at auction was one of those souvenirs. It was included in a list of Chicago fair medals in the American Journal of Numismatics published in 1893.

Here are some of the images inside the coin: