You hear a lot of rumors about strange images on coins. Was the Roosevelt Dime really a communist plot? Some people seemed to think so. Is the US Mint trying to promote atheism? Some said that the Presidential Dollar proved that.
But what about a coin that advertises a business?
I’d never given it much thought, but there actually is a US coin that displays the name of a business, but you’ll have to look at the coin pretty closely to see it!
The Franklin Half Dollar was minted from 1948 to 1963. It bore a bust of Benjamin Franklin on the obverse (heads) side of the coin, the word "Liberty," the inscription "In God We Trust," and the year the coin was minted. The coin's reverse (tails) side featured the Liberty Bell along with a small depiction of an Eagle and the inscription "E Pluribus Unum." That image of the Liberty Bell is what http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwe are talking about.
The “Liberty Bell” was manufactured by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, in London England. It was delivered to the city of Philadelphia at a cost of 150 pounds, 13 shillings and 8 pence. The bell cracked on its very first test. Local founders John Pass and John Stow broke the bell down, added more metals, and eventually produced a bell deemed acceptable by the city.
That bell bears the inscription “Pass and Stow Philada. MDCCLIII.” (Remember the movie National Treasure?) And that inscription was duly reproduced on the reverse of the Franklin Half Dollar!
The Bell foundry no longer exists, but there is a business which still bears the name “Pass and Stow!” Their product line includes bicycle racks!
More information about the Franklin Half Dollar?
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