the United States Mint from 1795 to 1804. The piece was designed by
Robert Scot, and was the first in the eagle series, which continued
until the Mint ceased striking gold coins for circulation in 1933. The
common name is a misnomer; Liberty does not wear a turban but a cap,
believed by some to be a pileus or Liberty cap: her hair twisting around
the headgear makes it appear to be a turban. The number of stars on the
obverse was initially intended to be equal to the number of states in
the Union, but with the number at 16, that idea was abandoned in favor
of using 13 stars in honor of the original states. The initial reverse,
featuring an eagle with a wreath in its mouth, proved unpopular and was
replaced by a heraldic eagle. Increases in the price of gold made it
profitable for the coins to be melted down, and in 1804, President
Thomas Jefferson ended coinage of eagles; the denomination was not
struck again for circulation for a third of a century. Four 1804-dated
eagles (one shown), which were struck in 1834 for inclusion in sets of
US coins to be given to foreign potentates, are among the most valuable
US coins.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turban_Head_eagle>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
The Peruvian stratovolcano Huaynaputina exploded in the most
violent eruption in the recorded history of South America.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huaynaputina>
1937:
An attempt to assassinate Italian Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani in
Addis Ababa failed, triggering a brutal crackdown of Ethiopians over the
following three days.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekatit_12>
1942:
World War II: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forcible relocation of over
112,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese people residing in the United
States to internment camps.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment>
1963:
Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, a non-fiction book
credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the
United States, was first published.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Feminine_Mystique>
2006:
A methane explosion in a coal mine in Nueva Rosita, Mexico,
trapped and killed 65 miners.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasta_de_Conchos_mine_disaster>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
tor:
(South-West England) A hill.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tor>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Everyone must dream. We dream to give ourselves hope. To stop dreaming
— well, that's like saying you can never change your fate. Isn't
that true?
--Amy Tan
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Amy_Tan>
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