Isabella quarter is without distinction". The "American Journal of Numismatics" had other criticisms of the quarter: Minting of what Barber dubbed "showy quarters" began at the Philadelphia Mint on June 13, 1893, six weeks after the exposition opened. Leech had planned to strike the pieces using polished blanks, or planchets, and workers at that mint handled the coins carefully; unlike the half dollar, surviving specimens display relatively few contact marks from other coins. The first piece struck, along with numbers 400, 1,492, and 1,892, were struck in proof condition and sent to the Lady Managers along with certificates attesting to their status.
Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano Carl Nielsen's Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano ("Fantasistykker for obo og klavier"), Opus 2, were composed shortly after the composer had taken up the post of second violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1889. The two pieces which make up the opus were first performed at the Royal Orchestra Soirée in Copenhagen on 16 March 1891. The oboist was Olivo Krause (to whom they are dedicated) and the pianist Victor Bendix. In her list of Nielsen's compositions, Emilie Demant Hatt notes that the first fantasy piece, "Andante" (later "Romance") was completed on