What’s The Baseball Cap Coin?

Have you ever heard of the “Baseball Cap Coin”? It’s a term that comes up from time to time among a subset of U.S. commemorative coin collectors who pursue some of the classic gold commemoratives that were en vogue during the early 20th century. Specifically, it’s a reference to the 1915-S Panama-Pacific (or “Pan-Pac”) Gold Dollar.

The PCGS Lingo page describes the coin’s nickname, “Baseball Cap Coin,” this way: “Slang for a Pan-Pac commemorative gold dollar coin. The figure wears a cap similar to a baseball cap.”

Designed by Charles Keck, the obverse of the Pan-Pac Gold Dollar features the head of a Panama Canal worker donning a peaked cap. Commemorative coin expert Anthony Swiatek writes in his book Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States (KWS Publishers, 2012) that, “some people think the worker resembles a baseball player,” echoing some of the lore that surrounds this coin. Meanwhile, the reverse carries the anchor denominational inscription “ONE DOLLAR” encircled by two dolphins to represent the merging of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at the Panama Canal.

The 1915-S Pan-Pac Gold Dollar saw a mintage of 15,000 pieces. Most of these coins are believed by PCGS scholars to exist to this day, owing to a survival estimate of approximately 12,000 examples. Of those, some 10,000 are thought to remain in uncirculated grades, with about 3,500 ranking a grade of MS65 or higher. Circulated examples, which are relatively scarce due to so few of these coins entering extensive circulation anyway, can be had for a few hundred dollars. Meanwhile, Mint State examples trade hands for prices above $600, with MS63 examples going for about $725 and MS65 specimens taking $1,250.

The 1915-S Pan-Pac Gold Dollar is conditionally rare in grades above MS66. The record price for this coin was achieved in 2023, when the auction hammer fell at $21,600 for a specimen graded PCGS MS67+.