The Government of the United States purchased the Panama Canal concession from the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama in 1904.The US formally took control of the canal property on May 4, 1904, inheriting from the French a depleted workforce and a vast jumble of buildings, infrastructure, and equipment, much of it in poor condition. A US government commission, the Isthmian Canal Commision (ICC), was established to oversee construction; it was given control of the Panama Canal Zone, over which the United States exercised sovereignty. The commission reported directly to Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, and was directed to avoid the inefficiency and corruption that had plagued the French 15 years earlier.
Because of the great variety of names and nations and the fact that a large number could neither read nor write their names, every employee was provided with a brass badge, for identification, which he was required to present before he could draw his pay.
The construction of the canal was finished in 1914. An International Exposition was held in San Francisco in 1915 to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, and also to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the discovering of the Pacific Ocean by the explorer Balboa.
Taking over three years to construct, the fair had great economic implications for the city that had been almost destroyed by the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The exposition was a tremendous success, and did much to boost the morale of the entire Bay Area and to help get San Francisco back up on its feet.
Some medals and other articles were sold as souvenirs at the Exposition, among them this Panama Canal id badge which was encapsulated with a piece of paper with legends by the Exposition authorities.
| bverse Design | Crudely made. The letters appear set in with single punches. The top line has "I.C.C.". The second line has "766" (the employee number). The bottom line has an "S.A." (which possibly stands for "South American"). | ||||
| Reverse Design | Blank. | ||||
| Metal | Brass | Size and Shape | Round, approximately 46 mm in diameter. There is one small round hole on at the top. | ||
| Dates Issued | Unknown. Being so crudely made, this may have been a pattern instead of a regular issue. This may have been a pattern for the ICC Round checks which started being issued in January, 1909 (with no A's or S.A.'s). | ||||
| Issurer | I.C.C. stands for Isthmian Canal Commission, which was the part of the U.S. government responsible for building the canal. | ||||
| Numbers Issued | Only known piece apart from this is one in the Plowman Collection | ||||
| Rarity | Extremely rare. | Manufacturer | Probably locally made. | Source | sold as a souvenir at the PPIE San Francisco 1915 |
| Varieties | There is a another badge of the same size which is somewhat similar. However, it has I.C.C. on the bottom line instead of the top, and says "A" instead of "S.A.". | ||||
| Function | This may have been a pattern of an employee id check for the Isthmian Canal Commission (ICC). | ||||
| Population Count | Known specimens are as follows: this one and another in the Plowman Collection. | ||||
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