HK-389, 1909 Portola Festival Official Souvenir, Choice Uncirculated, NGC MS-63
HK-389, 1909 Portola Festival Official Souvenir, Choice Uncirculated, NGC MS-63
Official Souvenir token from the 1909 Portola Festival, held in San Francisco, California. Holed as sold, slot used for mounting on a watch fob strap. "Uneven Die Alignment", with the "D" of "Discovery" over the "I" of "First". This die alignment was used with all such issued with a “slot”, all issued with a round hole appear to be from a Type One Reverse, the so-called "Even Die Alignment", with the "D" of "Discovery" over the "F" of "First" (or, the "I" in both words aligned). The alignment of the "O" in "San Francisco" versus the "A" of "California" on the righthand side is also different for each type. Unfortunately, NGC does not distinguish the type of hole on their labels, just listing them as "holed", and in fact older certs did not even mention that, making determining actual populations of holed vs. non-holed impossible. Scarce as a Type, flat out RARE if you can find one in Uncirculated grades. This is one of the 20th Century Keys to the So Called Dollar series in higher grades, and not commonly made available in Unc grades although price does not necessarily reflect this. Pop 4 in MS-63, 3 better, two of which are in my personal collection and not likely to be available any time soon.
NGC 5909535-006