Q. David Bowers
Of, By, and For Thomas G. Melish
The 1936 Cincinnati half dollars are closely related to the Old Spanish Trail coins in that they also were conceived expressly for the purpose of earning money by sales to collectors. The Cincinnati coins were an issue of, by, and for Thomas G. Melish, an entrepreneur and enthusiastic numismatist of his era. Melish devised a scheme where a group styling itself as the Cincinnati Musical Center Commemorative Coin Association sought to commemorate, as the congressional authorization of March 31, 1936, stated, "the 50th anniversary of Cincinnati, Ohio as a center of music, and its contribution to the art of music for the past 50 years." To increase the potential for profit the requested issue was for just 15,000 coins to be struck at three mints, creating an enticingly low mintage of just 5,000 coins per variety. However, even more profit was envisioned by Melish when he originally proposed a bill which provided for "not more than 15,000 (10,000 Philadelphia Mint, 3,000 San Francisco Mint, and 2,000 Denver Mint)," thus creating 1936-D coins which would have been rarities. (From the original text of H.R. 10264 introduced January 15 1936 (amended February 17, 1936).)
There was a small problem: nothing musical worth commemorating on a nationally distributed coin occurred in Cincinnati 50 years earlier in 1886. However, that didn't make any difference. To be sure, a group known as the Liederkranz Society was formed that year and was composed of German immigrants and others who staged song fests, but few would consider that this obscure occasion was worthy of commemoration on a nationally distributed half dollar.
The chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts endeavored to investigate the situation, obviously smelling a rat, and was unable to find anyone in musical circles in Cincinnati who knew the first thing about the proposed half dollar! Accordingly, designs submitted by Miss Constance Ortmayer, showing on the obverse the bust of Stephen Foster and on the reverse a goddess holding a lyre, were found to be ludicrous. (On January 31, 1991 numismatist Michael Hodder contacted the Music Research Department of the Cincinnati Public Library to be sure that this was indeed the case, and the contention that nothing notable happened on the musical scene in Cincinnati in 1886 was reaffirmed.)
Charles Moore, chairman of the Commission of Fine Arts, wrote to Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross to complain about the situation, noting: "The design of the obverse of the coin is directly contradictory to the express purpose of the Act. It shows a portrait of Stephen Collins Foster, who had no part whatever in the movement which made Cincinnati a musical center. In fact, he died in New York City 72 years ago, whereas the movement which made Cincinnati a music center began in 1873, sixty-three years ago. The commission is at a loss to connect a 50th anniversary in 1936 with a movement that began in 1873. Nor do the members of this Commission connect the name of Stephen Foster with the 'art' of music. He made a valuable contribution to the folk literature of American music in the very popular songs he wrote for Christy's Minstrels, but this contribution was not made during his short stay as a bookkeeper in Cincinnati, but afterwards, when he was a resident of Pittsburgh and New York. He was an American troubadour, but in music as an art he made no contribution."
Moore went on to elaborate that Cincinnati's leadership in the musical field began with the May Festival organized in 1873, out of which grew the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1879. He suggested that Theodore Thomas, founder of the music festival in 1873 and later director of the College of Music, would have been a more appropriate choice for depiction on the coin. It should further be mentioned that the inscription below Foster's portrait on the coin, STEPHEN FOSTER-AMERICA'S TROUBADOUR, was swiped from the title of a biography of Foster published earlier in the same decade.
"The reverse is supposed to represent the Goddess of Music holding what is supposed to be a lyre, but apparently this lyre must have been bought at a 5 cents and 10 cents store as it seems to be only a toy," B. Max Mehl commented in his 1937 monograph, The Commemorative Coins of the United States.
Editor Frank Duffield of The Numismatist had a comment concerning the design of these coins and printed the following in the issue of October 1936: "It has not been the policy of The Numismatist to criticize the designs of commemorative coins, except mildly in a general way on an occasional issue. The tendency of the later issues has been to make them more and more local in design as well as in other attributes, including preference in their distribution and in the selection of artists or sculptors. During August the Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar was distributed. This issue had been awaited with great interest by coin collectors for weeks because of the announcement that one side of the coin would bear the bust of Stephen Collins Foster ....
"When it finally appeared many expressions of approval of the designs were heard and a few criticisms. If the piece is to be criticized it should be not for what the designs are, but for what they might have been, everything considered.... Foster deserved a better bust than the one the artist has given us. Either a larger head or a complete bust would have been preferable to one with cut-off shoulders. The reverse of the coin has a Goddess of Music. As shown she is a graceful, charming creature. But the toy four-string lyre she holds in her hand is not in keeping with the times of the occasion.... After all these years Music deserved something better. With two such subjects it would seem that. the designer overlooked a splendid opportunity."
Minting and Distribution
In July 1936 the full authorized issue of 15,000 coins was struck in quantities divided approximately equally among the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints: 5,005, 5,005, and 5,006, respectively, the odd pieces being reserved for the Assay Commission. Seeking as much profit as possible at the beginning, Melish and his associates set an issue price of $7.75 per set of three coins, the highest figure of any set up to that time. Each set was mounted in a black leatherette Wynne brand holder faced with a celluloid slide.
The first 200 sets bore a notarized statement pasted on the reverse of the holder, noting that it was from the initial group. In correspondence with a collector, Melish noted: "These numbered sets were sent to the secretary of the Treasury, the treasurer of the United States, and various senators and representatives .... The various mints operated the presses very slowly until the first 1200 coins were struck. The coins were caught in gloved hands and were then put in cellophane envelopes and enclosed in manila envelopes numbered from 1 to 200."
Advertising and publicity solicited orders at the $7.75 issue price, but most collectors found that they were not early enough indeed they couldn't have been early enough, for the entire issue was "sold out" virtually the moment that news of it appeared, even before it was officially put on sale, according to distributor Melish. Obviously, he had paid attention to and learned from what C. Frank Dunn had done with the infamous 1935 "small 1934" Boone sets.