Bureau of the Mint from 1854 to 1889. Designed by Mint Chief Engraver
James B. Longacre, the obverse ("heads" side) bears a representation of
Lady Liberty wearing a headdress of a Native American princess, and the
reverse displays a wreath of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco. Longacre
sought to make it as different as possible from the quarter eagle ($2.50
piece), striking it on a thinner planchet and using a distinctive
design. Although over 100,000 were struck in the first year, the coin
saw little use. It circulated somewhat on the West Coast, where gold and
silver were used to the exclusion of paper money, but what little place
it had in commerce in the East was lost in the economic disruption of
the Civil War, and was never regained. The piece was last struck in
1889, and Congress ended the series the following year. Although many
dates were struck in small numbers, the rarest was produced at the San
Francisco Mint in 1870 (1870-S); only one such coin is known with
certainty to exist.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-dollar_piece>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1087:
William II, son of William the Conqueror, was crowned King of
England.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_II_of_England>
1687:
The Parthenon in Athens was partially destroyed during an armed
conflict between the Venetians under Francesco Morosini and Ottoman
forces.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenon>
1917:
First World War: The Battle of Polygon Wood, part of the Third
Battle of Ypres, began near Ypres, Belgium.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Polygon_Wood>
1983:
Soviet Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov averted a possible
worldwide nuclear war by deliberately certifying what otherwise appeared
to be an impending attack by the United States as a false alarm.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Soviet_nuclear_false_alarm_incident>
2010:
Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues
were kidnapped by members of the Taliban in the Kunar Province of
eastern Afghanistan.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Linda_Norgrove>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
heave:
1. (transitive) To lift with difficulty; to raise with some effort; to lift
(a heavy thing). […]
2. (intransitive) To make an effort to vomit; to retch.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/heave>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Do I dare Disturb the universe? In a minute there is time For
decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
--T. S. Eliot
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/T._S._Eliot>
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