Q. David Bowers
The Commemorative Market
1911-1915
The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco saw the creation of a spectacular set of five different commemorative coins, from the silver half dollar to two varieties of $50 gold pieces, with Farran Zerbe once again doing the selling. Collector interest was apathetic, and vast quantities of unsold coins were melted. The annual convention of the American Numismatic Association, held that year in San Francisco so that attendees could visit the fair, was a flop; only a few hardy souls attended.
The general market for commemoratives was slow during the five-year period ending in 1915, and not much happened with Columbian Exposition coins and other early issues. The 1915 Panama-Pacific coins would go on to become another generation's delight. In the meantime, the overlooked, unwanted 1904 and 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition gold dollars were becoming scarce.
The Commemorative Market
1916-1920
The market for commemorative coins remained rather quiet during the five-year period from early 1916 to the last page on the calendar in 1920. Early in that span Farran Zerbe still had large numbers of unsold Panama-Pacific International Exposition coins on hand, particularly half dollars and gold dollars, which he had saved (along with a handful of $50 pieces and a few $2.50 coins) when thousands of unsold coins were consigned to the melting pot in late 1916. The minting and subsequent melting of large numbers of commemoratives was characteristic by this time and had begun with the Columbian issues.
Henry Chapman (of Philadelphia), the Arnold Numismatic Company (providence, Rhode Island), and B. Max Mehl(of Fort Worth, Texas) were among the most active dealers incommemoratives; but, apart from Mehl, who bought large quantities of unsold commemoratives of the new 1916-1917 McKinley gold dollar issues, most professionals maintained commemorative coins only as a small part of their normal trading stock.
Mehl, who was to become the best-known rare coin dealer of the first half of the 20th century, had two branches to his business: (1) The first, and probably the largest, consisted of the selling of premium guides to the general public. The Star Rare Coin Encyclopedia told the price Mehl would pay for rare coins. While he bought many scarce and rare items from the public, the profit was in the sale of the booklets themselves. At one time his activities accounted for more than 50% of the business of the Fort Worth Post Office! Mehl also sold packets and groups of coins to beginning collectors, and in this way he marketed large numbers of Columbian half dollars, McKinley gold dollars, and other coins. (2) The second part of Mehl's business was that of a regular coin dealer. He conducted numerous auctions (what today we would call mail bid sales) and in his day handled many important collections. Mehl was an important player in the commemorative market by 1920, and he would become more so during the following 20 years.
The Commemorative Market
1921-1925
The five-year period from early1921 to the close of business in 1925 saw a flurry of new commemorative issues released. Among these were several specifically designed to exploit the collector. It started with the 1921 Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar, which was not needed, for many1920-dated Pilgrim half dollars remained unsold. The gates were open, and in 1921 a half dollar intended to help celebrate the centennial of statehood of Missouri was produced in two varieties, one with a "plain" obverse field, and the other with a tiny "2*4" in the field, ostensibly to inform viewers that Missouri was the 24th state to join the Union. Collections had to have two Missouri halves to be complete. In the same year numismatists were confronted by the 1921 Alabama Centennial half dollar, also made in two varieties: "plain" and with a small "2X2" in the field. As if this were not exploitative enough, it can be pointed out that Alabama joined the Union in 1819, and its numismatic birthday party should have taken place in 1919, not 1921!
The following year, 1922, saw production of half dollars and gold dollars to observe the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant. Each denomination was made in two styles: "plain" and with a star (of no historical or other significance) in the field. Profit was the object, and collectors were the target. No issuer of commemorative coins ever stated that numismatists were fair game or that a coin issue was made for exploitation purposes. Rather, each issuing commission claimed a lofty ideal or purpose. In the instance of the 1922 Grant coins, the stated intention was to use the profits to construct two buildings and lay a five-mile road in Ohio, where Grant spent his boyhood. (Now, well over a half century later in the 1990s, this still hasn't been done.)
In 1923 the commemorative market was in the doldrums. Dealer Thomas L. Elder reported: ("United States Souvenir Coins and Their Prices," The Numismatist, March 1923, pp. 107-108.) "American collectors are, I think, fast awakening to the fact that souvenir gold dollars and half dollars which have been offered to them during the last few years by the hundreds of thousands, at from 100 to 200% premium, are a modernized and systematized sort of a numismatic swindle .... It is my intention to keep hammering against this injustice until these committees get some common sense into their heads. The souvenir coins which have had the greatest demand and which at the present command the very best premiums are those gold dollars which were issued at from $1.65 to $2 apiece, namely those of the Portland Centennial [Lewis and Clark Exposition] and the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. This proves my argument. The McKinley Memorial dollars 1916 and 1917 and the Grant issues seem to have gone dead recently.... The Pilgrim half dollars and those of the Maine Centennial have also gone to seed, and there is little demand for either of them .... "
In 1924, when the Huguenot-Walloon half dollar was issued, the promoters enlisted Moritz M. Wormser, president of the American Numismatic Association, to endorse the coin, which he did. The year 1925 saw several new commemorative half dollars observing such things as the California Diamond Jubilee, the Lexington Concord Sesquicentennial, the stone sculpture at Stone Mountain (Georgia), and the centennial of Fort Vancouver. These and other new issues served to spur interest in commemoratives, despite Thomas L. Elder's dour observations, and by the end of 1925 such coins enjoyed a widespread popularity. News items and opinions concerning them were regularly carried in the pages of The Numismatist. Prices of earlier issues were on the rise.