For Sale: HK-430 1916 Panama-California Exposition Official SCD

Near TOP POP, only two finer in 64. This piece is dated 1916. Charles E. Barber of the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia engraved the dies based on a design by the Washington Star newspaper cartoonist C.K. Berryman. The U.S. Mint sold these directly to the public at the exposition. On the obverse Uncle Sam wearing the stars and stripes holds a shovel, the handle of which splits Central America where the Panama Canal was dug. On the reverse the ship S.S. Ancon is passing through the gates of the Panama Canal, it was the first ship to sail through the canal on the date of the official opening, dated August 15, 1914. This is the Bronze variety.