Commemorative Coins of the United States
Q. David Bowers
1937 Antietam Half Dollar (Battle of Antietam Half Dollar)
(Lee-McClellan Half Dollar)
The Only Strictly 1937 Commemorative
The 1937 Antietam half dollar has the distinction of being the only commemorative half dollar first authorized in 1937 and actually produced and sold during the same year. Moreover, it recalled an anniversary that actually took place in 1937. As such it was a paragon of commemorative virtue!
Observation of the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam, September 17, 1862, one of the most intense conflicts between Union and Confederate forces, furnished the occasion for a commemorative half dollar authorized by an act Congress approved on June 24, 1937. The enabling legislation specified that no more than 50,000 silver half dollars of a single design be produced at a single mint, to be delivered on request to the Washington County Historical Society of Hagerstown, Maryland.
The original offering circular gave details of the conflict commemorated: "The Battle of Antietam [was] fought near Sharpsburg, Maryland, south of Hagerstown, on September 17, 1862, and [is] universally recognized as the bloodiest one day battle of the War Between the States. There between daylight and darkness on that date approximately 25,000 Union and Confederate soldiers fell. On the Confederate side was world-famed General Robert E. Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia; opposing him was General George B. McClellan and his Army of the Potomac. In the last analysis the titanic struggle was one between a great master and his brilliant pupil, for General McClellan had studied the science of war at West Point under General Lee ....
"Because of the appropriateness of this issue, the worldwide fame of General Lee, and the honored place General McClellan will always hold in our national history, it is the objective of the sponsoring agency that these coins shall pass directly into the hands of interested citizens and private collectors thereby avoiding the possibility of speculation. It is anticipated that the coins will be minted and ready for distribution on or before August 1, 1937, and because of the already evidenced demand it is suggested that you forward your order without delay."
The issue was often referred to in brochures as the Lee-McClellan half dollar which, presumably, was more personal than the Battle of Antietam half dollar.
Design and Distribution
William Marks Simpson, the Baltimore sculptor who designed the 1937 Roanoke and 1936 Norfolk half dollars as well, was named to prepare the models, which were in due course translated to die form by the Medallic Art Company of New York. The finished design featured on the obverse the busts of generals George B. McClellan and Robert E. Lee, whereas the reverse illustrated the Burnside Bridge at Antietam, site of the most casualty-ridden skirmish of the Civil War.
Some 50,028 coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in August 1937 and were shipped to the Washington County Historical Society, which offered them for sale at $1.75 each. The first specimen struck was presented to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on August 12, 1937.
Despite the avowed interest of the commission in preventing speculators from acquiring the issue, no limit was placed on the quantity that could be ordered. The point was moot, in any event, for by the summer of 1937 few speculators were even the slightest bit interested in commemorative half dollars.
The promoters tried their best to sell the pieces through intense advertising in numismatic periodicals, and it is probable that the majority of pieces were distributed in this manner. Relatively few seem to have been sold locally. In late 1937 Park W.T. Loy, secretary of the United States Antietam Celebration Commission, Washington County Historical Society, sent this notice to those on his mailing list: "Your last chance to secure a Lee-McClellan half dollar. The National Antietam Commemoration, after having attained its every objective, has now passed into history. The commemoration is ended, but through the medium of the magnificently designed Battle of Antietam commemorative half dollar, its objectives will live forever in the hearts of those who possess this coin. Several thousand of the Battle of Antietam half dollars are being retained for the filling of yet unplaced orders, while others beyond this reservation will shortly be returned to the United States Mint for cancellation .... " Orders were solicited for $1.65 each, including postage and insurance, and buyers were further advised that the limiting of distribution "will obviously have a material effect on the coin collectors' premium value of this magnificent commemorative coin."
By any account the Antietam half dollar effort was a failure, for of the 50,000 coins produced for general sale, 32,000 were eventually returned to the Treasury Department for melting. There was no negative publicity associated with the distribution of Antietam half dollars, for by that point the subject had been largely exhausted in the numismatic press and elsewhere.
Collecting Antietam Half Dollars
Today 1937 Antietam half dollars are readily available and are primarily in lower Mint State levels, although MS-65 pieces are not unusual.
GRADING SUMMARY: This issue was handled with care. Friction, when it does occur, is often seen on the high parts of General Lee's portrait on the obverse and, on the reverse, on the bridge and trees. More often seen are scattered small marks, particularly on the upper part of the obverse. Most examples are very lustrous and frosty.