Coin Buyers Serving Hyde Park

Hyde Park and the coins of the 1893 fair

In 1893 Chicago hosted the World's Columbian Exposition in Jackson Park, marking 400 years since Columbus's first voyage. The Museum of Science and Industry now fills the fair's former Palace of Fine Arts. At the fair, visitors could buy the Columbian half dollar for $1, the first U.S. commemorative coin, with Columbus on the front and his flagship Santa Maria over two hemispheres on the back.

Both years were struck in large numbers: 950,000 for 1892 and about 4 million for 1893. Around 2.5 million unsold 1893 coins were melted, and plenty of the rest went into circulation at face value.

That is why a worn Columbian half is a common find that brings a little more than its 90% silver. A coin with sharp detail and original luster sells for more, so we grade each one under a loupe before naming a price.

The fair's Board of Lady Managers, led by Bertha Palmer, asked for a coin of its own, and the 1893 Isabella quarter was the result. A crowned Queen Isabella of Spain is on the front, and a kneeling woman holding a distaff and spindle, a symbol of women's industry, is on the back.

Of the 40,023 struck, 24,214 were sold and the other 15,809 melted. It was made for collectors and never meant to circulate, and it sells well above its silver value in any grade.

Many Hyde Park homes have long ties to the University of Chicago, and the collections that come out of retired faculty estates often arrive organized, with albums filled date by date and a notebook listing what was paid. Those records help, though we still check every coin for date, mint mark, grade and eye appeal ourselves. Coins already graded and sealed by PCGS or NGC are priced from the grade on the slab and current collector demand.

When an executor or a grown child is settling a Hyde Park estate, our written, item-by-item list gives everyone the same record of what was found. These are free purchase appraisals, which an executor should know are separate from certified appraisals for probate or insurance. Bring a government-issued photo ID if you decide to sell.

A large collection can take 30 to 60 minutes, and for a full estate you can ask whether a home visit is possible. We call back the same day.