To celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, still considered one of the marvels of modern engineering, Congress authorized the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. This Expo, held in San Francisco, was also a celebration of the city’s recovery from the devastating earthquake of 1906.  Also authorized were a series of commemorative coins that were to include a half dollar, gold dollar, $2.5 gold piece, and two different $50 gold pieces; one round, and one octagonal.  On January 16, 1915, the bill authorizing these issues was signed into law.

• Contains 2 Troy Ounce .999 Fine Silver
• Obverse:  depicts an allegorical figure—the goddess Columbia—astride a hippocampus, a Greek mythological sea horse with the head and forequarters of a horse and the tail of a fish. In her hand is a caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession, signifying the strides against yellow fever that had helped make the canal’s construction possible. The date is below this portrait; above it, along the rim, is the inscription PANAMA-PACIFIC EXPOSITION.
• Reverse: The reverse depicts a left-facing American eagle perched atop a plaque on which is inscribed the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Below this is the statement of value—”2 OZT.”—and above it, along the rim, is UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  Flanking either side of the lower circumference is the hallmark.