Q. David Bowers
"George Young of the American Bank of San Francisco, among others, was awaiting
the arrival of the plane at Crissey field, having in his possession the Centennial half dollars. Lieutenant Kelly receipted for them, stowed them away and while the pilot and his passenger partook of a quick luncheon, the machine was refueled for the return trip. Lieutenant Kelly took off from Crissey field at 12:45 p.m., passed over Williams, California at 1:45 p.m., Redding at 2:20 p.m., Pilot Rock, which approximates the California-Oregon state line, at 3:15 p.m., Roseburg at 4:15, and Eugene at 4:50, where a stop of 20 minutes was made for refueling. Flight from Eugene was resumed at 5:10 and the plane alighted on Pearson field, Vancouver barracks, at 6:15 p.m. As a courtesy to The Oregon Journal and to the Vancouver Centennial, Lieutenant Kelly circled the Journal building at Portland and the central business district of Vancouver on his return.
"This is only one of another long list of air achievements attaching to the credit of Lieutenant Kelly, who has the distinction of being one of the two pilots who made the first non-stop transcontinental flight in May 1923, when they flew more than 2,600 miles in 26 hours. Since assigned to duty at Pearson field, Lieutenant Kelly has made many flights up and down the coast and into the interior. But the novelty of Saturday's jaunt was the round trip feature. On a previous occasion he had flown from Los Angeles to Portland in a single day. Varying altitudes and speeds were attained by Lieutenant Kelly, depending on the air conditions and the nature of the country. Throughout the Willamette Valley, going and coming, the average altitude was 1,000 feet; over the rugged regions of Douglas and Josephine counties, and over the Siskiyous an elevation of between 3,000 and 6,000 was maintained for many miles. On the return trip the pilot covered the first 300 miles in 150 minutes, maintaining an average speed of 120 miles an hour.
"Going down, a headwind was encountered south of Roseburg, this condition being aggravated during the last leg of the route by the accustomed fog that pervades the Bay district. The return trip, however, was with a favorable wind, which accounts for the fact that the return was made in 35 minutes less time than the outgoing trip .... The age of speed is here, adding as it does to the complexities of life, and the achievement of the air service is only another answer to the irresistible challenge that Nature makes to restive man."
Among the photographs accompanying the article was one bearing this caption:
"Lieutenant Kelly smiles as Herbert Campbell, president of the Vancouver Centennial, pours out the memorial coins which Kelly delivered into the waiting hands of H.G. Warren, vice president of the Vancouver National Bank."
Sales of the Vancouver
Half Dollars
Sales were effected at $1 per coin throughout August and September 1925, including the weeklong Fort Vancouver Centennial celebration, which began on August 17th. As David M. Bullowa pointed out: "The commemoration of the founding of Fort Vancouver ... was an event more worthy of a medal than a commemorative half dollar, insofar as the national significance of the occasion is concerned. The celebration appears to have been purely local." Arlie Slabaugh echoed the sentiment: "The event that [the half dollars] were intended to finance was a celebration that had little significance outside of the Northwest area; consequently the sales were disappointing."
Sales fell far short of expectations, and 35,034 coins were returned to the San Francisco Mint to be melted, leaving a net figure of 14,966 distributed plus 28 re-served for the Assay Commission. While numismatists and the ever-active B. Max Mehl undoubtedly bought several thousand pieces, most went into the hands of the public. The issue soon sold at a premium on the numismatic market, and in 1928-1929 sales were reported as high as $10 per coin. However, by 1930 the price had slipped back to the $6-$7 level.
Collecting Fort Vancouver
Half Dollars
The design of the Fort Vancouver Centennial half dollar was such that even a small amount of handling produced friction on the higher spots, with the result today that higher Mint State level coins are rare.
In 1982 a hoard of several hundred pieces surfaced. My firm purchased 257 of these and was told that this was a substantial majority. As is usually the case when treasure troves turn up precise information was lacking, but I was eventually led to believe that no more than a total of 500 came to light. One account had it that they had been the property of a historical society and museum, while another stated that they were owned by a local citizen who inadvertently turned them into a bank for face value!
In 1980, before this hoard came on the market, commemorative historian Anthony Swiatek estimated that fewer than 300 choice Mint State coins survived, "the remaining thousands being barely Mint State or sliders or worse, many poorly cleaned." (The Encyclopedia of U.S. Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins, p. 240.) The distribution of the 1982 hoard brought up to 500 additional Mint State coins to the market, most of which would be graded in the MS-63 range by today's standards. Even so, Mint State coins are elusive in comparison to other commemorative half dollars of the mid-1920s. The typical coin is frosty and lustrous with evidence of friction or contact marks, especially on the portrait of McLoughlin.
GRADING SUMMARY: Check the obverse portrait, for it nearly always shows evidence of friction and handling. As this is to be expected, the consideration you are faced with is that coins in higher numerical grades should have the friction less evident. Although examining the obverse will usually suffice to tell the story, for verification check the higher points of the standing figure on the reverse as well.