Q. David Bowers
(average market prices)
1930 MS-60 to 63 $4.50
1935 MS-60 to 63 $6
1936 (summer) MS-60 to 63 $7.50
1940 MS-60 to 63 $6
1945 MS-60 to 63 $10
1950 MS-60 to 63 $11
1955 MS-60 to 63 $18
1960 MS-60 to 63 $30
1965 MS-60 to 63 $85
1970 MS-60 to 63 $75
1975 MS-60 to 63 $250
1980 MS-60 to 63 $1,350
1985 MS-60 to 63 $1,100
1986 MS-60 $600, MS-63 $1,000, MS-64 $1,775, MS-65 $4,200
1990 (spring) MS-60 $600, MS-63 $1,400, MS-64 $3,600, MS-65 $19,500
1990 (December) MS-60 $460, MS-63 $925, MS-64 $1,825, MS-65 $11,000
The Continuing Story of Commemoratives
An overview of early commemorative gold coins reveals in essence that the 1915-S Panama-Pacific gold dollars and quarter eagles and the 1926 Sesquicentennial quarter eagles achieved a fairly wide public sale (in proportion to the total quantity distributed of each), and it is probable that members of the general public accounted for most of the distribution of the 1904-1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition gold dollars.
On the other hand, most of the 1903-dated Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollars, 1916 and 1917 McKinley gold dollars, and 1922 Grant gold dollars were not widely sold to the public and were whole-saled in bulk to dealers with the result that generous numbers of Mint State coins survive today.
By any standard the most impressive of the early gold commemoratives are the round and octagonal $50 pieces of 1915, not highly esteemed in their time, for most were melted. However, soon thereafter numismatists everywhere came to appreciate these large, heavy, and quite rare pieces, and today they are considered to be among the highlights of any collection containing them.
After the issuance of the 1926 Sesquicentennial quarter eagles, over a half century was to elapse before additional varieties of gold commemoratives would be struck.