Back in my younger days I lived for several years in the Caribbean. It's a beautiful place with so many islands you can easily visit. One of my favorites was always Barbados, it's a really beautiful place. There's a lot of great fishing, diving, or even really nice beaches if that's your thing. A little something for everyone in this tropical paradise.
As a coin collector I started collecting coins from Barbados and other Caribbean islands while I was there, but in recent years have been collecting more. Now there are more silver and gold coins available from the region. Every few months I tend to check and see if there are any new items I might be interested in adding to my precious metals stack. Recently I found a gold coin that was really interesting from Barbados, mostly because it is so small. It's only half of a gram of gold in a tiny coin that memorializes the Mount Rushmore monument in the United States.
About the coin:
APMEX.com
There will be a total of 5,000 minted by MDM Mint out of Germany. In case you were wondering, MDM is short for Münzhandelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. So we have a coin minted in Germany for Barbados that is celebrating the the 100th anniversary of a US monument. How's that for complicated? The going price for one is $129.99 right now, and at the time of writing the total gold is worth about $54. That makes a pretty steep premium of about $76. That's just way more than I am willing to pay personally, maybe they will come down in price in a year or two!
I really like the obverse (front) of the coin with the Barbados coat of arms, but the reverse (back) could have been done better in my opinion. I know how difficult the engraving had to be at this scale, but poor Lincoln doesn't look all that much like himself! It could have been better, but I respect their ingenuity.
Micro gold (small quantity) is really the easiest way to invest in gold these days. I think it's a good idea for countries to produce these smaller gold coins to sell to the investor that doesn't have $3,000+ to buy a full Troy ounce of gold. Maybe this trend will catch on around the world?
Mount Rushmore
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a giant sculpture carved out of the mountain in South Dakota. It features four former presidents of the United States, from left to right: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It was created by sculpture Gutzon Borglum with the aid of his son Lincoln Borglum.
The project was approved in 1925 but took two years before work could be started in 1927. Mount Rushmore was chosen by the artist because it faces southeast allowing for maximal sunlight for the best viewing. Originally it was planned to have carved the figures down to the waist, but they ran out of money leaving only the faces competed. However, Washington nearly had his shoulders completed as seen above.
This is how Mount Rushmore looked prior to the project.
National Park Service
Jefferson was originally supposed to be on the right of Washington. You can see in the picture below where they started to sculpt out his face, only to find the rock was too unstable. As a result is was blasted off the rockface and placed his likeness to the left of Washington.
Unknown Park Service employee prior to 1941
The project required 400 men to complete the process of sculpting the faces over fourteen years, finishing in 1941. Remarkably there were no fatalities during the entire construction period. The heads are 60 feet in height (18 meters) and here you can see a closer view of the finished monument.
Wikipedia.org
The monument really is a remarkable feat of engineering. If you are ever in South Dakota, it's worth the visit. I went once many years ago, it's remarkable just how big the sculpted heads are in person.
Another monument is also underway just 17 miles from Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument. It memorializes the Native American warrior and leader of the Oglala Lakota tribe. This project was started in 1948 and is still ongoing. They refused government funds so it has been a long and slow going project. So far only the face has been completed, and work is continued as more funds are raised.
Wikipedia.org
Below you can see the finished project they hope to achieve with the actual work in progress in the background. If they can complete it as envisioned; it will be a truly amazing monument! Talk about ambitious... I do hope they are able bring this sculpture to fruition.
flickr.com
That will wrap up this post up for this Monday, I hope you enjoyed it. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below, and thank you for all of your support. Have a great week everyone!
References
https://www.apmex.com/product/309047/2025-barbados-1-2-gram-gold-100th-anniv-mount-rushmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Rushmore
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial
Disclaimer:
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
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