Q. David Bowers
The Continuing Story of Commemoratives
Congress was inundated by bills proposing new half dollars during the period 1935-1939. While many of them became realities, most did not. Had some of the proponents pushed harder, then today we would be collecting such items as half dollars commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania; the 150th anniversary of the expedition of General Benjamin Logan in Ohio; the centennial of Montgomery, Alabama; the centennial of the changing of a town's name from Sawpit, New York, to Port Chester; the 100th anniversary of the University of Louisville; the sesquicentennial of the Berwick, Pennsylvania land grant (which coincided with the 118th anniversary of Berwick's status as a borough); the 350th anniversary of the introduction of American-grown tobacco in England; and the commemoration of the Wichita Mountain Easter Sunrise Service in Oklahoma.
The list also included proposals for commemoratives relating to the 100th anniversary of the arrival of Marcus and Narcissa Whitman in the Walla Walla Valley in Washington and the founding of the Waiilatpu Mission;' the founding of the International Peace Garden in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota and Manitoba; the 160th anniversary of the arrival of General Washington and the Continental Army in Morristown, New Jersey, the 1939 World's Fair; the memory of the late Dr. Charles P. Steinmetz; the 300th anniversary of the founding of Hartford, Connecticut; the 100th anniversary of the admission of the state of Michigan to the Union; (The text of the legislation introduced in Congress on May 29, 1936, under H.R. 12910 proposed that "not more than five thousand silver 50 cent pieces" be coined on behalf of the Detroit Coin Club Committee. If the bill had passed, the mintage of 5,000 would have been the smallest of any commemorative type. The bill providing for half dollars in commemoration of the 160th anniversary of Washington's arrival in Morristown (5. 4663) suggested a Coinage of 10,000 coins, providing the possibility for another rare issue.) the centennial of the founding of the city of Shreveport, Louisiana; the 185th anniversary of Easton, Pennsylvania; the 20th anniversary of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division of the U.S. Army; the 150th anniversary of the expedition of Marquis de Denonville into territory later a part of the State of New York; the memory of humorist Will Rogers; and the 100th anniversary of the formation of Mercer County, West Virginia. Whew! And this is only a partial list!
So eager was the commission pushing a half dollar to commemorate the Fort Peck Dam that it ran many advertisements in The Numismatist and elsewhere soliciting orders for $2 per coin. D.A. Crichton, who was in charge of receiving orders, reported early in 1937 that he had already received remittances for 2,000 pieces. Apparently this gave him the authority to moralize on various aspects of commemorative issuance, and a long letter on this subject from him was printed in the April 1937 issue of The Numismatist.
Problems arose, and Congress did not share the promoters' enthusiasm for the Fort Peck Dam coins. The situation dragged on. The would-be distributors of the coin sent notices out in early 1939 stating: "Our bill is not a dead issue and we hope to have the bill passed in the future. However, those people who do not care to wait and see what happens may have their money refunded upon request of same but there will be a small charge on all orders refunded before the fate of our bill is definitely known. Fort Peck Memorial Association." Unfortunately for Crichton's hopes, no such Fort Peck half dollars were ever authorized, and all subscriptions had to be returned, less a "small charge," which justifiably angered many who had sent payments two years earlier.
Those advocating the issuance of a half dollar to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the birth of John Beckley were a bit smarter in this regard and did not advertise until they were sure that their coins were "in the bag," literally and figuratively. As it happened, they were never more than a gleam in the promoter's eye. In case you don't recognize the historical significance and importance of John Beckley it should pointed out that he was the founder of Beckley, West Virginia.
"The Decline and Fall of Commemorative Coins," an article by editor Frank G. Duffield in The Numismatist, August 1937, attributed the problems of commemoratives to six situations:
"(1) Too many coins were authorized for some issues and were distributed over more than one year, with various mintmark combinations, making it necessary for a collector to buy a large number of coins of the same type if he wanted his collection to be complete.
"(2) The reported 'salting' of a part of a small issue to take advantage of the increase in price that would naturally follow.
"(3) The deluge of letters to congressmen from collectors complaining about the abuses of commemoratives.
"(4) The desire of groups in some localities to get in on the commemorative coin game with some celebration that had no interest beyond their locality.
"(5) The announcement of a proposed issue soliciting orders for coins before a bill passes Congress, resulting in holding the buyers' money for months.
"(6) The difficulty the members of the two congressional committees had to determine which bills should pass and which shouldn't, which resulted in nearly all passing as in 1936, or nearly all failing as in 1937."
As noted earlier in the present text, on March 11, 1936, Congress held hearings on the abuses of commemorative coinage, and those attending were told that dealers were able to buy virtually the entire issue of 1935 Hudson half dollars before the public even saw advertisements for the pieces, that C. Frank Dunn had created low-mintage Boone half dollars in order to exploit collectors, and were informed of other situations as well. Of course, this was hardly news to the collecting fraternity, for these excesses had been discussed to a fare-thee-well in pages of The Numismatist and the Numismatic Scrapbook and at coin club meetings.
At that point in time, some 81 different commemorative coin bills were in the hop-per. Although the numismatic community itself had lost much of its enthusiasm for commemoratives, and speculators were nowhere to be seen, various entrepreneurs, local committees, and others still felt that issuing commemorative coins was the next best thing to having a license to coin money. In fact, it might have even been better than that, for they could take all the profits but didn't have to pay for setting up coining facilities!