Q. David Bowers
"He wrote to me on the 17th telling me that you were the person that wanted a set and that you were away on vacation and would return shortly, and asked me to hold one set for you. I have kept this set for you and the price is $45, but if you do not want this set it is all right with me, as I have sold seven sets this month for $ 50 and the price is going up all the time, and they are getting harder to find, This set of coins will be selling for $100 one of these days. Please do not feel that you have to take this set just because 1 have kept it for you, for I still have orders for them at $50. On the other hand if you do want it, I will sell it to you for what I promised."
Letter from Thomas G. Melish to Walter
P. Nichols, October 1, 1936:
"My Dear Mr. Nichols:
"Thanks very much indeed for your nice letter of September 28, from which we note that the Cincinnati coins in insured parcel No. 2055 reached you in good shape. We were really quite worried about it as about 35 or 40 sets were lost in the mails. Of course we will receive payment [from the Post Office insurance] for these at the issue price, but that doesn't solve the problem, as everyone insists upon receiving the coins and not a rebate of their money. If we have to go out into the open market and pay $35 or more for Cincinnati sets we will go down to the suspension bridge and jump into the Ohio River, or something like that!!
"I am so glad that you had a splendid sale of the York County coins. Mine arrived in good shape and have been placed in my various collections. All of the members of our local numismatic association, of which the writer is one of the Board of Governors , were pleased with their York County half dollars.
"As you say, if anyone thinks it is an easy matter to distribute a commemorative coin they better try it on their own piano. We had seven stenographers and three clerks in order to take care of our tremendous correspondence. Unfortunately, all the Cincinnati sets have been distributed. There are none left. If we had even one set we would be glad to let you have it at the issue price. Sorry.
"Cordially yours,
"Thomas G. Melish, President." 512-636-9869
An excerpt from correspondence from Walter P. Nichols to a client, J.F. Carabin, December 1, 1936, discusses the market slump which had occurred by that time:
"I still have four sets of the Cincinnati coins on hand. There does not seem to be any call for them right now, maybe later. I did sell three sets when they first came out at fair prices, but since I purchased the last lot, guess the bottom has dropped out of the market."
As L.W. Hoffecker did when he went from the Old Spanish Trail promotion to the Elgin half dollar distribution (see later listing), Thomas G. Melish desired to make additional profits with commemoratives, and before long he was involved in another issue, that pertaining to Cleveland. Well known in numismatic circles, Melish hosted a reception a few years later in Cincinnati when the annual convention of the American Numismatic Association was held there in 1941. The Pirates' Den hospitality suite, so called, was set up on the top floor of the headquarters hotel and was decorated by paintings commissioned by Melish of "pirates, " consisting of prominent dealers and other numismatic personalities. Overlooked was the fact that the greatest pirate of all was surely Melish himself, who undoubtedly treated many of his guests with money taken from them a few years earlier in the sale of Cincinnati sets!
Collecting Cincinnati Half Dollars
Despite the questionable design and origin of the Cincinnati half dollars, the motifs were pleasing to many and today are considered to be among the more attractive in the series. As nearly all sets went into the hands of collectors and investors, most still exist today in varying degrees of Uncirculated preservation, primarily MS-60 to 63. The coins were carelessly handled at the mints, with the result that nearly all show marks and abrasions. Higher level Mint State specimens are rare. Denver Mint coins are, on the average, in slightly higher grades than their Philadelphia and San Francisco counterparts.
GRADING SUMMARY: Nearly all Cincinnati half dollars show scattered contact marks, most particularly on the higher areas of Stephen Foster's portrait on the obverse and on the bosom and skirt of the Goddess of Music on the reverse. Cincinnati coins have somewhat satiny or "greasy" surfaces, instead of fields with deep lustre and frost.
1936 P-D-S Cincinnati Musical Center Set
Half Dollars
SUMMARY OF CHARACTERISTICS
Commemorating: 50th anniversary of Cincinnati as a musical center in America
Obverse motif: Portrait of Stephen C. Foster
Reverse motif: Goddess of Music
Authorization date: March 31, 1936
Dates on coins: 1936 (also 1886)
Date when coins were actually minted: 1936
Mints used: Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco
Maximum quantity authorized: 15,000
Total quantity minted (including assay coins): 5,005 Philadelphia, 5,005 Denver, 5,006 San Francisco
Assay coins (included in above): 5 Philadelphia, 5 Denver, 6 San Francisco
Quantity melted: None
Net number distributed (including assay coins): 5,005 Philadelphia, 5,005 Denver, 5,006 San Francisco
Issued by: Cincinnati Musical Center Commemorative Coin Association, 312 United Bank Building, 3rd and Walnut Streets, Cincinnati, Ohio (Thomas G. Melish; this was actually the office address of Melish's main business, The Bromwell Wire Goods Company) Standard original packaging: Imprinted Wynne black leatherette holder for three coins with celluloid slide on the front (200 of these had a notarization notice pasted on the back); two varieties of the leatherette holders exist, one with small P, D, and S letters and the other with larger letters
Official sale price: $7.75 per set of three (actually $7.50 plus 25¢ for "the display container with cellophane slide front")
Designer of obverse and reverse: Constance Ortmayer
Interesting facts: This issue was a personal project for the profit of numismatist Thomas G. Melish. Even within Cincinnati few people knew about the coins, and the 50th anniversary commemorated had no basis in historical fact.