Wacks Counterstamps

Inspired by Pope Francis’ messages in behalf of the earth and the poor, Wacks made his first counterstamped coins in over 30 years, commemorating the historic first visit of the Pope to the United States --and the very first piece was presented to His Holiness Pope Francis. A total of 235 brilliant uncirculated 2015 Kennedy half dollars split about evenly between the Philadelphia (“P” mint mark) and Denver Mint (“D” mint mark) were counterstamped with Pope Francis’ Coat of Arms of Pope Francis with his personal motto below: Miserando atque eligendo (Latin for "By giving mercy and by choosing”).

MW22 “POPE FRANCIS VISITS USA SEPT. 22-27, 2015”

A total of 100 circulated 1915 “Barber” half dollars and 18 other “Barber” half dollars, split about evenly between the San Francisco (“S” mint mark) and Denver Mint (“D” mint mark), were counterstamped with a portrait of Albert Einstein and an appropriate inscription commemorating Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, published in 1915, where he determined that massive objects cause a distortion in space-time, which is felt as gravity. Imagine setting a large body in the center of a trampoline. The body would press down into the fabric, causing it to dimple. A marble rolled around the edge would spiral inward toward the body, pulled in much the same way that the gravity of a planet pulls at rocks in space.

MW23 “THEORY OF GENERAL RELATIVITY, 1915-2015”

  

Fewer than 100 Brilliant Uncirculated 2016 Kennedy half dollars, about 20 “D” mint and the rest “P” mint, were counterstamped with a 1616 “Hogge Money” six pence. These commemorate the 400th Anniversary of the first coins listed in “The Red Book,” the earliest coinage for any English-speaking region in the New World--the so-called Hogge Money made in London on behalf of Gov. Daniel Tucker “for the Plantation of the Somer Ilands (Bermuda).” According to Capt. John Smith (1624), the hog coin designs commemorate “the abundance of Hogges [which] were found at their first landing.” The territory was often called Hogge Islands because of the numerous black hogs and sows that ran wild after escaping the shipwreck of Juan de Bermudez in 1532.

MW24 400th Anniversary of Hogge Money (1616-2016)