1959 Oregon Statehood Centennial "Oregon Beaver Dollar" So-Called Dollar in Oreide, Issued by the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce, After the 1849 Oregon Exchange Company $10 (HK-573)

Issued for Oregon's statehood centennial by the North Clackamas County Chamber of Commerce, which sold the pieces at 50 cents to defray the cost of centennial events in the county. It is cataloged as HK-573 in Hibler and Kappen's standard work on so-called dollars, the term for dollar-sized commemorative medals of this kind; 20,000 were struck in oreide, a gold-colored brass alloy, at a standard 38 millimeters. Both sides copy the 1849 Oregon Exchange Company "Beaver" ten dollar piece, gold coined privately at Oregon City before the federal mint reached the Pacific Northwest. The obverse center shows the beaver on a log with an arc of initials above, T.O. and the date 1849 below, and small stars and sprigs in the field, ringed by AN EXACT REPLICA OF THE HISTORIC "BEAVER" TEN DOLLAR GOLD PIECE and, outside the border, A SOUVENIR FROM MIRACULOUS NORTH CLACKAMAS COUNTY. The reverse center reads 10. D. 20 G. / NATIVE / GOLD. / TEN. D. within OREGON EXCHANGE COMPANY, encircled by OREGON CENTENNIAL 1859-1959 between two stars. The gold-colored surfaces retain their original bloom with no wear; scattered dark flecks show in the fields and a few tiny nicks are present on the rim.