Knit by Nora

Compulsive ~ a strong, irresistible impulse to act (i.e., to knit) and Obsessive ~ to occupy the mind excessively (thus this blog)

Monday, January 03, 2005

Today’s Knitting News

This is a bracelet that my father gave me with the Indian Liberty $2.50 coin (see below for history). The value to me is sentimental although I was astonished when I goggled the value today.

My two sisters and mother have the same bracelet with the Indian Liberty sans the extra charms. Each time I travel, I pick up a charm that either represented the place or a sentimental meaning. From left to right: Siesta Key sandles, Williamsburg pineapple, Sarasota greco (lizard), Sanibel Beach bucket, Lincoln monument, D.C., Georgia peach, Dad’s coin, Nemacolin Woodlands fat bird, a 2nd Williamsburg trip – key, Philadelphias Liberty Bell, a heart from Mark, two cats from Little Rock, Arkansas and the boot from Colorado was my favor for being maid-of-honor. The two cats represent Sid and Nina, my first kittens that passed the summer I went to Little Rock. Mark gave me a ball of yarn with knitting needles for Christmas to make me smile. It was a sad holiday as my father passed on December 5th at 82 years of age.

President Theodore Roosevelt commissioned sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens to redesign all American coinage, but Saint-Gaudens died of cancer after completing design work for the $10 (Eagle) and $20 (Double Eagle) gold pieces. Fortunately, in late 1907 Roosevelt was able to contact one of Saint-Gaudens' students, Bela Lyon Pratt, and commission him to redesign the $2.50 and $5.00 denominations. A year later, the numismatic community was surprised by Pratt's innovative Indian design, which featured the legends and motifs incused rather than raised on the coin. In other words, as a departure from earlier United States coinage, the devices were recessed into the surface of the coin. These are the only U.S. coins minted in this manner.
One reason the $2.50 Indian is such an attractive investment and collector's item is that the coin was minted during only 13 years, making it one of the shortest-lived series in U.S. numismatics. Quarter Eagles of this type were produced in 1908 through 1915 and again from 1925 through 1929, after which time the denomination was suspended.

posted by Nora | 2:40 PM

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