Appealing 'grand prize' medal issued at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Gilt bronze, 65 mm x 75 mm, 146 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, 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, "Grand Prize, Louisiana Purchase Exposition," with two dolphins below symbolizing the nations' eastern and western boundaries, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Housed in its original case, marked on the lid: "Universal Exposition, 1904, Saint Louis." Weinman later designed the Walking Liberty half-dollar and Mercury dime.
