Q. David Bowers
The expanded mintages for 1952 (philadelphia, 1953-S, and 1954-S were intended for wide distribution (including through banks) but the effort was a failure, and many pieces were dumped at or close to face value. In the meantime the collectors' market absorbed several thousand or more P-D-S sets, but most sets remained unsold. Eventually 1,091,198 Carver-Washington coins were returned for melting. The charitable activities to which the profits of the Booker T. Washington and Carver Washington halves were to have been directed benefited very little.
The present writer remembers having the opportunity to order Carver-Washington sets at the time of issue in 1953 and 1954, but the consensus of local coin club members was that the issues were not of interest, and no local numismatists ordered any. There was absolutely no investment interest in the sets either. Years later Stephen J. Ruddel, who also bought a quantity of Booker T. Washington half dollars, came into the possession of thousands of unsold Carver-Washington P-D-S sets, and many of these were marketed after 1960.
Quantities For Face Value
In an interview with the author, John J. Ford, Jr. recalled Booker T. Washington and Carver-Washington half dollars. (Interview conducted February 20, 1991.) "In 1948 Charles Wormser bought Wayte Raymond's coin business after Raymond's second major illness, which, I believe, was cancer of the colon. Charles and New Netherlands Coin Company had been at 955th Avenue. He moved uptown and took over the coin department from Wayte Raymond, who then moved to a smaller office at 654 Madison Avenue because he didn't enjoy the stress of running the Scott operation.
"All the people who used to go to Scott's came to us, and they would bring large amounts of coins. I remember that over the counter we would see two primary types of coins, Columbian Exposition and Stone Mountain half dollars, and we would get these every day. We would spend them by taking them to the bank. There was absolutely no market for a VF, EF, or AU Columbian Exposition half dollar, just face value. Stone Mountains were just as bad; you couldn't give them away. We very rarely got anything else in the way of commemoratives from the public.
"I recall that in the early 1950s we did business with the Chase Bank before it became the Chase Manhattan Bank. We had a very fine relationship, and Charles Wormser was a close friend of Vernon Brown, curator of the Chase Money Museum. Any coin deals that came to the bank Vernon Brown would refer to us. Around 1955 they had large quantities of Booker T. Washington and Washington-Carver half dollars of certain dates and mints. These were available at face value, but nobody wanted them. The bank had trouble getting rid of them to anyone. With some effort I was able to market these for them. You couldn't sell the P-D-S sets, but there was a limited market for rolls and quantities of particular issues, like the large-mintage 1950-S, 1951, 1952, 1953-S, and 1954-S. We would get these in large quantities for the face value of fifty cents apiece, and then I would pay some guy a $10 or $15 tip for bringing them over to New Netherlands.
"They were leftovers, remainders, what have you. The issuing commission was very poorly operated from what I understood at the time. We would take these things and I would sell them to guys who were looking for coins as an investment for sixty-five cents apiece or something. I think I sold Aubrey Bebee a large number of them. I know Aubrey always liked deals where he could get a big quantity of something. This situation lasted two or three years. I remember taking them to conventions, but nobody wanted them. Finally, you couldn't give away a Washington-Carver. In fact, I probably even spent some for lunch a couple of times to get rid of them."
Collecting Carver- Washington Half Dollars
While the Booker T. Washington half dollars were poorly struck and were typically covered with bagmarks, the Carver-Washington pieces were even worse. Without a doubt, from an aesthetic view-point the issue reached a new low. Today most specimens are in the range of MS-60 to MS-63, usually at the lower end of that category.
Although the coins are quite interesting from a historical viewpoint and without doubt the gentlemen depicted on the obverse made immeasurable contributions to American society, from an artistic and numismatic viewpoint the entire effort was largely a failure. However, the very fact that something was struck, and exists, makes it collectible, so in modern times those pursuing Booker T. Washington and Carver-Washington sets have been able to acquire low-mintage issues for attractively low prices.
GRADING SUMMARY: From the standpoint of the average quality of surviving coins this issue wins no awards. Nearly all show extensive signs of contact and/or friction, most evident on the obverse portraits and on the center of the reverse. Carver-Washington half dollars were handled very poorly at the mints.