A Confederate veteran wrote the novelist Thomas Nelson Page on February 4, 1908, that he had read the author’s article in the LADIES HOME JOURNAL of June 1907. This man was visiting the city of Chicago “on the morning after the great fire”, the day after the Great Chicago Fire, and became the proud owner of a comparison piece of scripture in the WORDS OF OUR SAVIOR ON THE MOUNT piece! None Description: Obv: Inscriptions. One large center and three surrounding helix-like flower designs. The subject piece is inscribed in script on both obverse and reverse.
The obverse states: ‘THE LORD’S PRAYER IN CODE/CHAPTER VI MATTHEW/vs. 9 to 13 INCLUSIVE’. The reverse states: ‘MADE OF U.S. STANDARD SILVER/TAKEN FROM JUBILEE CROWN/ISSUED FOR COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION/1893’ on three lines with the word: COLUMBIAN [sic spelled] on a data space just below the word: ISSUED. The of Margaret Barfon Collections piece is almost as sharp as the three remainder pieces.
These reproductions of the Description: Eglit 142 medalet were probably struck from overused dies. Only the MATTHEW/vs. 9 to 13’s tiny lettering is not fully struck. The obverse and reverse florid design is found on: CODES-2. Portrait of Christ NOT on center nor surround helix-like scroll design with calming inscriptions. There is also the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire piece that also features Christ with one tassel on center but another notable scroll design with the wording: ‘PEACE/PREACHED IN THIS COUNTRY’. (Continued).
The medalet Eglit 142, also known as Eglit 142, the Elongated Lord’s Prayer Disc, was probably made by Clark, Gruber and Co., a Denver bank and assayer, to be given as souvenirs at the 1892 Columbian Exposition. The medalet is a tiny, elongated version of CODES-2, the 1 7/8 inch (#412) special disc. It features the Lord’s Prayer in English.
A question yet to be answered is how a bank became interested in this means of advertising. There was much publicity surrounding the change in the nation’s coinage, high art was accomplished by engraving new dies, and proposals were made regarding minor changes in the coin that the fifty cent piece would reflect PEOPLE’S MONEY or ZION’S CO-OPERATIVE MONEY.
Background of the 1892 Columbian Exposition
The promise of a quadricentennial commemoration was realized by a combination of forces, which then managed to make it vastly more important than any prior World’s Fair. Had it been considered simply as a celebration of progress, it would fall into the long sequence of expositions from London in 1851 to Paris in 1867 to Philadelphia in 1876. As innovative and stunning as many of the modernistic novelties presented were, it is the bourgeois, neoclassical, and romantic presentations that distinguish this Exposition in the purest sense.
When one is interested in a collection in numismatics, it is often very useful to his study if he will first place himself in the era that produced it. Even though history consists of one event after another, some are seen to be a watershed for future events.
The 1892 Columbian Exposition, celebrating the quadricentennial of Columbus’ discovery of America, is such a “watershed”. It can be shown that most eras preceding the Exposition are referred to as “old” by later generations, while all that follow are considered “new”. In viewing the defining characteristics of the era before 1893, as contrasted with the America that emerged from the Chicago World’s Fair, we are then able to fully appreciate the reasons why commemorative coins, tokens, and medalets were produced for the Exposition and why certain designs were considered “appropriate”.
