Collector Spotlight: Daniel Whyman

Th e Ferris wheel was eventually demolished by way of dynamite in 1906. Public domain image.

1893 So-Called Dollar Medal HK-173 Columbian Expo Ferris

Wheel Dollar, PCGS MS62. Courtesy of PCGS TrueView. wheel design of HK-170 but now as the obverse with the Horticultural Building as the reverse. Th e last Ferris wheel SoCalled Dollar is HK-173 featuring the design of HK-171 but with a reverse design featuring a female effi gy. Besides the SoCalled Dollars there are several other medals and exonumia related Ferris wheel pieces, but the So-Called Dollars are the most favored pieces by collectors.

Ferris had accomplished what seemed to be the impossible task of making the United States exceed the brilliance of the Eiff el Tower. Yet, Ferris’ story went on with him encountering litigation to protect his Ferris wheel from patent infringement (he won) and to recover the portion of the $750,000 in profi t the wheel made during the World’s Columbian Exposition. As for the Ferris wheel, it was closed in April 1894, was dismantled, and moved to Lincoln Park, Chicago, where it was reassembled and operated from 1895 until 1903. It was dismantled and transported by rail to St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair, also known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. When the 1904 fair closed on December 1, 1904, so did the Ferris wheel. What was crowned one of the wonders of the world and the “American Eiff el Tower” was demolished with dynamite on May 11, 1906, and sold for scrap.

Th e original Ferris wheel is nothing more than a memory. Ephemera still exists from that moment in history where, for the fi rst-time, people walked into the exposition and saw a moving structure so astonishing, so unbelievable that the world would never be the same. It was a moment, a place of fi rsts. For the fi rst-time people were lifted through time and space to experience something never before experienced and look down at a world illuminated by electric lights, where Americans fi rst ate hamburgers, Cracker Jacks, and a type of beef sausage that would become the hot dog. Pabst beer would win a blue ribbon. Women had, for the fi rst time, a Woman’s Building built by a female architect. And, after 20 minutes of riding the Ferris wheel, how could you not want a souvenir, perhaps a metallic image, of this structure that could show everyone the world in a whole new light?

Jay began collecting coins at the age of 13, when he inherited his uncle’s coin collection. Turner is profi cient in U.S. and world coins, token and medal variety attribution, grading, and counterfeit detection. In 2017, Turner joined PCGS as a grader specializing in world coins. He is stationed at the PCGS U.S. headquarters and grades on-site for the Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Paris offi ces.