Obverse of the half dollar

The Wisconsin Territorial Centennial half dollar was designed by David Parsons and Benjamin Hawkins and minted by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. The obverse (pictured) depicts a pick axe and lead ore, referring to the lead mining in early Wisconsin; the reverse depicts a badger and the territorial seal. Organizers of the territorial centennial celebration sought a commemorative half dollar as a fundraiser; newly issued United States commemorative coins at this time found a ready market from collectors and speculators. Accordingly, legislation was introduced by Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., which passed Congress without opposition. When initial designs by Parsons were rejected by the Commission of Fine Arts, Hawkins was hired. He executed the designs, though Parsons was also given credit. A total of 25,000 pieces were coined for public sale in July 1936. Sales were weak and the coins were vended by the Wisconsin Historical Society until the late 1950s. The coins catalog for up to $250. (Full article...)

Equestrian statue of George Washington in Morristown, New Jersey

• ... that the horse in an equestrian statue of George Washington (pictured) was modeled on a workhorse that had been seen pulling a milk wagon?
• ... that Richard Horn's 1969 novel was an Encyclopedia?
• ... that Michał Węsławski was the first non-Russian mayor of Vilnius after the January Uprising?
• ... that the Servants' Characters Act 1792 criminalised the creation of false references by servants in Great Britain?
• ... that on his wedding night, Maximilian of Habsburg had a childhood friend, wearing a suit of armour, stand in for him in bed with his new wife?
• ... that for the fourth episode of The Last of Us, Melanie Lynskey was told her character's brother was "basically Jesus"?
• ... that the search for a lost radioactive capsule along a 1,400-kilometre (870 mi) stretch of road in Western Australia was likened to looking for a needle in a haystack?
• ... that Rear Admiral Edward B. Barry was once demerited for "very disorderly humming"?

A Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopter distributing supplies near the flood-damaged community of Aropaoanui

• Cyclone Gabrielle (flood damage pictured) causes widespread damage and flooding across New Zealand.
• Nikos Christodoulides is elected President of Cyprus.
• In American football, the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.
• A megadrought and heatwave cause forest fires and a state of emergency in Chile.
• After a derailment of a train carrying vinyl chloride near East Palestine, Ohio, US, residents are evacuated over health concerns from the subsequent controlled burn.

February 20: Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes in Ukraine (2014); Family Day in Canada (2023); Washington's Birthday / Presidents' Day in the United States (2023); Shrove Monday (Western Christianity, 2023)

Parícutin

• 1816 – Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville premiered at the Teatro Argentina in Rome to jeers from the audience.
• 1943 – A fissure opened in a cornfield in the Mexican state of Michoacán and continued to erupt for nine years, forming the cinder cone Parícutin (pictured).
• 1988 – The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast voted to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
• 1992 – Appearing on the talk show Larry King Live, U.S. industrialist Ross Perot announced that he would begin a presidential campaign if "ordinary people" wanted him to run for office.