Q. David Bowers
1947 and Later Sets
In The Numismatist, December 1947, the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Me-morial placed an advertisement which stated that 1947 coins were "to be sold in sets only" and were available from the Memorial for $6 per set plus 30¢ for postage, etc., on the first set and 3¢ on each additional set. An editorial announcement in the same issue noted, in part: "It has been suddenly announced that a special 1947 issue of [the Booker T. Washington half dollar] is now available. It will be sold only in sets of three .... The cost is $6 .... " Readers were advised to order directly from the Memorial.
In 1947 the mintage of Booker T. Washington P-D-S sets was considerably more modest: 100,000 distribution strikes plus 17 assay coins struck at each of the three mints. Even this reduced number failed to attract much attention, despite the continuing participation of the New York City dealership, Stack's, to help with sales.! In order to be recognized as a distributor, Stack's had "to guarantee the ability of selling at least 1,000 sets per year," Harvey G. Stack advised the author. "We exceeded that number considerably. We did direct mail offerings to our mailing list." The firm distributed later Booker T. Washington P-D-S sets as well, although later sales were, as noted, to the mailing list customers (rather than through public advertisements). The reason sales of 1947 sets were slow was obvious to coin dealers and collectors alike: the Booker T. Washington coin was not a new design but in 1947 represented a subsequent offering of an earlier issue. Earlier in commemorative history, in the 1930s, no subsequent offering of serial coins (such as Arkansas, Boone, etc., issues) ever sold a quantity remotely approaching 100,000 sets. Some 1947 single coins were sold by Bebee Stamp & Coin Company (Aubrey and Adeline Bebee), well-known Chicago dealers, the year before at the Mardi Gras in New Orleans; but, apparently, Bebee was not an official distributor in 1947.
Sales of Booker T. Washington single coins and P-D-S sets continued to fall short of expectations. Dr. S.J. Phillips made an arrangement with the Bebee Stamp & Coin Company to distribute 1948 sets in addition to the continuing efforts of Stack's and the Commission itself. In The Numismatist, June 1948, Bebee Stamp & Coin Company advertised 1948 sets for $7.50, stating that the Bebees were "exclusive distributors for the above issue." Sets dated 1948 were produced in an even smaller quantity: 20,000 for collectors plus five coins for assay, struck at each of the three mints. In August Bebee advertised: "This very limited issue of only 20,000 sets is going fast! Order now and avoid disappointment." Although the firms of Stack's and Bebee Stamp & Coin Company had excellent numismatic credentials and enjoyed a wide clientele, relatively few collectors and dealers found the Booker T. Washington half dollar design to be attractive or the issues to be interesting. Sales of 1948 sets did not come up to expectations, and eventually 12,000 of each coin variety went to the melting pot, despite the enthusiasm expressed in print by Bebee Stamp & Coin Company earlier. In March 1948 Ruth Wells, a New York collector, wrote to The Numismatist to state that her husband had received two Booker T. Washington half dollars, dates not given, in circulation recently. By this time the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial Association didn't know what to do with hundreds of thousands of unsold 1946 issues, and many were simply spent for face value. This had an adverse effect on sales of other sets, for some collectors were fearful that all Booker T. Washington coins might soon be available for fifty cents each.
In The Numismatist, December 1948, Bebee Stamp & Coin Company advertised as follows: "Announcing ... Very limited issue 1949 Booker T. Washington Memorial Half Dollars. Only 12,000 sets will be struck. Available about January 15. Avoid disappointment. Order now. Price, post paid, $8.50 per set." Bebee also wholesaled sets to other coin dealers. In 1949 a still smaller quantity was struck-12, 004 at each of the three mints-of which 6,000 of each variety were later melted.
In a Distributor's Own Words
Aubrey E. Bebee told the story of his involvement with the distribution: (In a letter to the author dated December 17, 1990.) "By an Act of Congress, S.J. Phillips was appointed president of the Booker T. Washington Memorial at Rocky Mount, Virginia. In order to finance the costs of building the Memorial, commemorative half dollars were to be issued annually starting with 1946. Consequently, more than two million coins were struck for the years 1946 and 1947, but much to Mr. Phillips' surprise and disappointment the coins were not selling. He had expected there would be a great demand by the blacks. In order to possibly alleviate this situation, Mr. Phillips decided to confer with the Treasury Department, and he therefore called on Mr. Leland Howard to explain his plight. Mr. Howard suggested that the best possible 'remedy' would be to sell the entire issue, as they would be struck, to some firm. And he further recommended that the Chicago firm of Bebee's (Bebee Stamp & Coin Co. later moved to Omaha, Nebraska and soon thereafter changed its trade name to Bebee's, Inc.) might possibly be interested in handling the distribution of the coins. So Mr. Phillips made a long-distance call from the Treasury Department to Bebee's, and receiving an enthusiastic response, they agreed to meet. Arriving they proceeded to draw up an agreement.
"As [an] official distributor, Bebee's agreed to pay a premium of $3.00 for each set issued beginning with the year 1948. The Commission, which was composed of Mr. Phillips and his attorney, authorized that 20,000 1948 sets be issued, and 12,004 1949 sets, and a like quantity for 1950 and 1951. However, as the sets were not selling, only a smaller amount of sets were issued: 1948, 8,000 sets; 1949, 1950, and 1951, 6,000 sets each year. This caused the prices to rise for each year. In addition to our cost of $3.00, we also had to pay the Federal Reserve banks the face value of $1.50, making our total cost $4.50 for each set. We requested 1,000 sets when ordering them from each of the three Federal Reserves. " (After reviewing a draft of the Booker T. Washington section of the present work, Aubrey E. Bebee wrote to the author on February 4, 1991: "We did not consider ourselves being 'an' official distributor-hut the official distributor for the 1948, 1949, 1950, and 1951 BTWsets .... At the time there was no mention of Stack's or anyone else being a distributor of the above mentioned four sets. To our knowledge. there was no other advertising of any other dealer that they were distributors .... You mention that the Commission offered 1951 P-D-S sets in a mailing to collectors. This was also news to us .... We did not know this at that time." Stack's had advertised their connection with the Commission in The Numismatist, February 1947, as quoted earlier. However, the main thrust of the Stack effort was to their own mailing list (as also noted earlier), whereas Bebee, who became a distributor later, advertised widely.)