Coin Reference Library
Gold Commemoratives

1904 $1 Lewis and Clark

Mintage: 10,025
Designer: Charles E. Barber

This souvenir issue gold dollar was struck to mark the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition held in Portland, Oregon in 1905. Explorers Lewis and Clark are represented on each side of the coin, our nation's only two-headed coin. Charles E. Barber appears to have copied the Charles Wilson Peale portraits of Lewis and Clark in Independence Hall, Philadelphia. In September 1904, the Philadelphia mint struck 25,000 Lewis and Clark dollars. They remained in the vaults for nearly a year since the Exposition did not open until June 1, 1905. The sale of this coin helped finance a bronze memorial in Portland of Sacagawea, the Indian guide who assisted in the famous expedition.

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