The Columbus Day CAC Fancaster® Challenge Offers coin enthusiasts a chance to win a CAC stickered gem Columbian Half Dollar by describing in a user-generated video why this is such a cool coin with references to design, scarcity and history.

John Albanese, founder and President of CAC reports: “Ever since I was a kid, the Columbian Exposition coin was one of my favorites. It’s Christopher Columbus, what else do you need to know?”

In fact, in 1892, the Columbian Exposition coin is the first commemorative coin released by the US Mint.

To win, beginning Monday, October 13, 2014 through November 10, 2014: send your videos to https://www.wetransfer.com/ and then enter email to Promotions@Fancaster.com.  Videos should be in MP4 Format and no longer than 45 seconds.  First Place is a gem CAC stickered Columbian Half Dollar pictured above.

Submissions will begin to be accepted on Columbus Day, Oct. 13, 2014 at 12:00 Noon EDT and end at 11:59 AM EDT on Oct. 27, 2014.  Online Voting to commence on Monday November 3rd at 12:00 Noon EST and conclude on November 24 at 11:59 AM EST. Winners to be announced on Thanksgiving Day, November 27th

About The Columbian Half Dollar: This coin was issued by the Bureau of the Mint in 1892 and 1893. The first United States commemorative coin, it was issued to raise funds for the World’s Columbian Exposition, held in 1893, and to mark the quadricentennial of the first voyage to the Americas of Christopher Columbus, whose portrait it bears. The Columbian half dollar was the first American coin to depict a historical person.

The coin stems from the desire of the Columbian Exposition’s organizers to gain federal money to complete construction of the fair. Congress granted an appropriation, and allowed it to be in the form of commemorative half dollars, which legislators and organizers believed could be sold at a premium. Fair official James Ellsworth wanted the new coin to be based on a 16th-century painting he owned by Lorenzo Lotto, reputedly of Columbus, and pushed for this through the design process. When initial sketches by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber proved unsatisfactory, fair organizers turned to a design by artist Olin Levi Warner, which after modification by Barber and by his assistant, George T. Morgan, was struck by the Mint.

Some 5,000,000 half dollars were struck, far beyond the actual demand, and half of them were melted. The appropriation did not cure the fair’s financial woes, as fewer than 400,000 were sold at the premium price, and some 2,000,000 were released into circulation, where they remained as late as the 1950s. The pieces can be purchased in circulated condition for less than $20; coins in near-pristine state sell for about $1,000, far less than the $10,000 the makers of the Remington typewriter paid as a publicity stunt in 1892 for the first specimen struck.

About CAC: Due to today’s selective collector/dealer, an ever increasing number of certified coins on the market are considered low end for their grade. CAC holds coins to a higher standard so you can be confident in the value of yours. CAC verifies previously graded coins and award our sticker only to those coins that meet the standard for today’s sophisticated coin buyer.

For more information and rules, contact: promotions@fancaster.com