Rare ‘gold award’ shield medal issued at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Bronze, 70 mm x 70 mm, 147 gm, designed by Adolph A. Weinman and struck by the US Mint at Philadelphia. The front depicts Columbia, with arms spread wide holding the United States flag, beside a youthful maiden representing the Louisiana Purchase Territory; against a rising sun, the girl is disrobing the cloak of France, the material decorated with bees, the emblem of Napoleon, with raised text and date encircling the image, “Universal Exposition-Saint Louis-United States of America, MCMIV." The reverse shows a large eagle with wings spread above a tablet, “Gold Medal, Louisiana Purchase Exposition," with two dolphins below symbolizing the nations' eastern and western boundaries, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Weinman later designed the Walking Liberty half-dollar and Mercury dime.
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