California Pacific Int’l Expo – 1935 – 1936

The 1935-36 California Pacific International Expo

The California Pacific International Exposition was a World’s Fair that was held in San Diego, California in 1935 and 1936.  It was one of the largest World Fair expositions and was housed on over 1,400 acres in Balboa Park in San Diego. The fair cost some $20 million dollars to build and run but it attracted nearly 4 million visitors worldwide.

In order to defray some of the costs – and to also bring a level of status and success to this fair, the promoters encouraged California legislators in Congress to author and promote a bill that would create a special Commemorative Half Dollar to help fund the Expo. The legislated coins would be sold at face value to the Exposition promoters and then could be sold at the Expo for twice that amount.

The legislation was passed in 1935 and 250,000 coins were authorized and the California Pacific International Exposition Company became the entity that handled the sale and distribution of the coins. Now that this legislation had become law, the Commission needed a coin designer. Robert Aitken, a California sculptor, well-known for his pair of magnificent $50 Gold coins designed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, was selected to design the San Diego coin.

Aitken chose, for the obverse of the coin, a seated Goddess Minerva, holding a spear in her right hand and a shield in her left, facing right, with a California grizzly bear to her right. On the shield are the word “EUREKA” and the head of Medusa. Behind her are the hills of the Sierra Madre and the Pacific Ocean that surround California, with a sailing ship in the distance. Above Minerva are the words “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and below her are the words “LIBERTY” and the denomination “HALF – DOLLAR”.

For the reverse of the coin, Aitken chose to depict two buildings – the observation tower and the State of California Building at the Exposition. Around the periphery is “CALIFORNIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION.” To the left of the tower is “SAN DIGO” and to the right is the date “1935” or  “1936”  and below the buildings are the motto “IN GOD WE TRUST” and the mintmark – an “S” for San Francisco (in 1935) or a “D” for Denver (in 1936). 

In 1935, the San Francisco Mint struck 250,000 coins and delivered them to the Expo officials. Sales at the Expo in person and through the mails barely exceeded 70 thousand coins (70,132) so the remaining nearly 180,000 coins were returned to the US Mint.

Exposition officials had powerful friends who passed further legislation in Congress to have the unsold coins returned, melted and struck again, this time minted at the Denver Mint with a 1936 date on them.

Sales, in 1936, were even less successful, than in 1935. In 1936 only 30,092 coins were sold to fairgoers and the rest were returned to the mint and melted. By 1938, Emil Klicka, who was the Treasurer for the now-ended World’s Fair was still selling coins through the mail. The latter issue from 1936 was still priced at $1 each, while the prior issue from 1935 was now $2. There was a known hoard of 1935-S San Diego coins numbering over 31,000 pieces, which represented about 45% of the existing coins. The hoard was slowly dispersed between the 1960s and 1980s.

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