Coin Challenge Answers - Stone
Wall
Do you know which coin contains this image of a stone wall? Before you go further, here are a
couple of additional hints about the coin. It's not a classic commemorative, even though several classic
commemorative coins included stone walls. Even now, you can find the coin in pocket change.
Let's take a look at the coin. First, here is the coin in its corner of a 1999 proof set:
Did you recognize the wall under the Charter Oak of the 1999 Connecticut commemorative state quarter
coin?
On January 9, 1788 Connecticut ratified the new country's Constitution to become the fifth state of
the Union. As such, the US Mint released the coin in the first year, 1999, of the commemorative state
quarters.
But, this grand old white oak tree, known as The Charter Oak, gained its fame in 1687 much
earlier than when Connecticut became a state.
In 1687 representatives of the new British royalty, King James II, traveled to Connecticut to take
back the area's Charter granted by King Charles II twenty-five years earlier in 1662.
During a heated debate between the people of the Connecticut colony and the British representatives, the
Charter lay on the table between the two groups. Hours into the debate, the candles suddenly went
out.
With the candles re-ignited, the parties discovered the Charter had disappeared.
History attributes Captain Joseph Wadsworth of confiscating the Charter in the darkness, removing it
from the vicinity and hiding it in the grand old oak tree.
The Connecticut colonists' defiance against the British rule showed their willingness to stand up for their
rights and set the stage for further revolutionary acts almost a century later.
Though the venerable old oak finally succumbed to a storm in 1856, it's importance remains a key element of
Connecticut's history. They chose this beautiful tree as their symbol for their commemorative state quarter
coin.
T. James Ferrell, whose initials can be seen to the right and below the wall, provided the design for the coin's
reverse.
In our book, Days of Our Coins, the image of the
reverse of the Connecticut commemorative state quarter coin is shown on January 9 with its related
historical information summarized on that date.
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