Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 October 25

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From today's featured article

The three-cent silver was struck by the Mint of the United States for circulation from 1851 to 1872, and as a proof coin for collectors in 1873. A reduction of postage rates to three cents prompted Congress in 1851 to authorize the coin. At the time, profiteers were exporting and melting U.S. silver coins for their metal to trade for increasing amounts of gold in the wake of the California Gold Rush. The three-cent silver thwarted this scheme, as the first American coin with metal valued significantly less than its face value, and the first silver coin not usable as legal tender in unlimited amounts. Designed by the Mint's Chief Engraver, James B. Longacre, the coin saw heavy use until Congress protected other silver coins from profiteers in 1853 by reducing their silver content. The coin's place in commerce was lost with the economic chaos of the Civil War, which led to hoarding of all gold and silver coins. After the three-cent piece in copper-nickel emerged in 1865, the three-cent silver had a string of low mintages until its abolition by the Coinage Act of 1873. The series is not widely collected, and the pieces remain inexpensive relative to U.S. coins of similar scarcity. (Full article...)

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Did you know...

Old World swallowtail

... that there are around 18,500 species of butterfly (Old World swallowtail pictured)?
... that when Bach composed Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, BWV 38, on Luther's 200-year old hymn based on Psalm 130, he let four trombones, two oboes and strings all play with the voices?
... that Jewel Freeman Graham, the second black woman president of the World YWCA, joined the organization as a teenager in the colored division in Springfield, Ohio in 1939?
... that the Province of Zamora produces a large proportion of Spain's merino wool?
... that Joseph Hobson designed the first underwater railroad tunnel to a foreign country?
... that 1334 medals were awarded in the 2015 National Games of India?
... that Gertrude Leverkus was the only woman among 500 men to sit her final exams in architecture at University College London in 1919?
... that Woodrow Wilson believed that Beautiful Isle of Somewhere was bad for children?

In the news

Hurricane Patricia

Hurricane Patricia (satellite image pictured), the strongest hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere, makes landfall in Mexico.
Typhoon Koppu causes at least 50 deaths and displaces more than 100,000 people across the Philippines.
The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, wins a majority of seats in the Canadian federal election.
The Swiss People's Party, led by Toni Brunner, retains its plurality in the Swiss National Council.
Alpha Condé is re-elected President of Guinea.
AB InBev agrees to purchase SABMiller for £69 billion.

Ongoing events:
- Russian military intervention in Syria
- European migrant crisis
Recent deaths:
- Maureen O'Hara

On this day...

October 25: Retrocession Day in Taiwan (1945)

Battle of Agincourt

1147 – Reconquista: Forces under Afonso I of Portugal captured Lisbon from the Moors after a four-month siege in one of the few Christian victories during the Second Crusade.
1415 – Hundred Years' War: Henry V of England and his lightly armoured infantry and archers defeated the heavily armoured French cavalry in the Battle of Agincourt (pictured) on Saint Crispin's Day.
1861 – The Toronto Stock Exchange, the stock exchange with the most mining and petrochemical companies listed in the world, was established.
1980 – Proceedings on the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, a multilateral treaty providing an expeditious method to return a child taken from one member nation to another, concluded at The Hague.
2010 – Mount Merapi in Central Java, Indonesia began an increasingly violent series of eruptions that lasted over a month.

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Today's featured picture

The Last Day of Pompeii is an oil painting on canvas completed by the Russian artist Karl Bryullov between 1830 and 1833. The painting is based on sketches the artist completed in 1828 while visiting Pompeii, a city destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. It is now held in the State Russian Museum.

Painting: Karl Bryullov

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