Q.David Bowers
The Missouri Centennial was celebrated in 1921. A special commemorative half dollar was sold by means of large display advertisements in The Numismatist and elsewhere. By December 1921 anyone who cared to part with $1 had acquired an example. Orders were falling off, so an uplift in sales was accomplished by an unusual device.
Advertisements appearing at that time noted:
All of the unsold coins of the design previously illustrated in "The Numismatist" have been withdrawn from the market and returned to the United States Mint for recoinage .... A special issue of 5,000 of the coins containing the "Star 24" indice, none of which were sold or offered for sale up to this time, are now being placed on the market by the Sedalia Trust Co. of Sedalia, Missouri, official custodians of the Missouri Centennial Memorial Coins, and so long as the supply lasts will be sent postpaid to any address in the United States for $1 each. This offering of the limited number of this special mintage will soon be exhausted after which no more will be obtainable. If you want one or more of these beautiful souvenirs act quick ....
By means of this sales trick another 5,000 were sold.
One merchandising innovation usually follows another, so in the following year, 1922, when Alabama celebrated its centennial, 49,038 pieces of the regular design were distributed as well as 6,006 of a "special" design with a small "2x2" in the field. Again, history was repeated, and in the same year when commemorative half dollars and gold dollars were issued to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ulysses S. Grant's birth, varieties were made with and without a tiny 5-pointed star in the obverse field. In order to have a truly complete collection, the numismatist was forced to buy two of each coin.
The Grant half dollars without stars were first offered for sale at $1 each. When all sales had been consummated, the coins were offered at a discount price of 75c each in lots of 10 or more. Varieties with the star in the field commanded an extra premium and were offered at $1.50 per coin.
In June 1923 the motion picture industry held a conclave. Issued for the event was the Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar, struck at the San Francisco Mint. 274,077 coins were distributed, an unusually large issue for the time. The pieces achieved a particularly wide circulation with the public, especially in California.
The next commemorative issue occurred in 1924 when the 300th anniversary of the settlement of the Huguenots and Walloons in America was celebrated. 142,080 coins were distributed.
In 1925 several commemorative half dollar issues appeared. The Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial piece celebrated the 150th anniversary of the battles fought in colonial Massachusetts in 1775. On the obverse of each coin the famous Minuteman was shown. The 75th anniversary of the admission of California into the Union furnished the occasion for another commemorative half dollar. The obverse depicted a miner panning gold. The reverse showed a bear. In the same year Fort Vancouver celebrated its centennial with a commemorative half dollar. The Stone Mountain Memorial in Georgia furnished another occasion for a commemorative, and 1,314,709 pieces were eventually distributed.
In 1926 the 150th anniversary of American Independence provided the occasion for a commemorative half dollar and a quarter eagle. During the same year the first Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar was made. The Oregon series continued intermittently until 1939.
1927 brought the Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar. In the following year, 1928, just 10,008 Hawaiian Sesquicentennial half dollars were made. The Hawaiian issue was not particularly popular with numismatists, so most were sold to residents of the Hawaiian Islands. Soon they became scarce.
In 1934 several issues appeared. Maryland celebrated its 300th anniversary, Texas celebrated its centennial (with a series which would continue until 1938 and be struck at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco Mints), and the bicentennial of Daniel Boone's birth was observed. Subsequently Boone pieces were made through 1938.
1935 commemoratives included the Connecticut Tercentenary, the first of many Arkansas Centennial issues (which extended until 1939), and the first of two San Diego pieces. Included among the 1935 issues were two varieties, the Hudson Sesquicentennial and the Old Spanish Trail. Each was made to the extent of just 10,008 pieces. Both were sold out almost immediately. There were numerous complaints from disappointed collectors who had their checks returned.
In December 1935 in The Numismatist one of the most famous advertisements in the history of numismatics appeared. Placed by C. Frank Dunn, the distributor of Boone commemorative half dollars, who lived in Lexington, Kentucky, the advertisement noted that:
Responsive to collectors' requests LIMITED coinages have been struck at the D and S Mints, 2,000 only each mint. Boone Half Dollar, with small 1934 on dies. Offered for three weeks only at $1.85 each prepaid. Sold only by the pair, $3.70.
Something happened, however, before the advertisement appeared. A feature story about the rare pair of half dollars appeared in the New York City newspapers in late November, causing a flood of mail to be sent to the distributor. By the time that The Numismatist readers learned about the coins, they had been sold out. Disappointed collectors and dealers had their checks returned marked "OVERSUBSCRIBED, REMITT ANCE HEREWITH." The price of the coins promptly jumped to $75 per pair. The great commemorative half dollar boom, which was to last through 1936, was underway!
Protesting the practice of commemorative half dollar issuance, a reader of The Numismatist, styling himself as "A. Shornlaemb," wrote to the editor of the publication concerning the 1935 Hudson half dollar which had been offered to the public for $1.18 but which had been unavailable to most people ordering them, a situation which was repeated with other issues as well:
In looking over the index of the 1935 "Numismatist" it was noted that no description of the Hudson half dollar had been given, and I hasten to fill this gap in numismatic literature. So far as is known, this piece is the first ever dedicated to the coin collector. Everything about it shows a purpose for which it was issued.
Behold, on the obverse, a ship of Hudson homeward bound in all of its triumph. Is it not laden, oh, my friends, with a catch of a most profitable expedition to the Sea of Suckers, where a proverbial one is born every minute ...
The description went on in the same vein and included a request for the editor of The Numismatist to insert an illustration of the obverse and reverse for the benefit of readers. The editor replied that he had no illustration of the Hudson half dollar, and considering the circumstances, he didn't want to purchase one at the current market price.
In 1936 one could read about or speculate in such issues as the Cleveland Great Lakes Exposition half dollar (many of the pieces were actually struck in 1937, no pieces were ready by the time the Great Lakes Exposition opened in 1936-but it didn't make much difference, sales were intended for gullible numismatists, not for the public), the 1936 Wisconsin Territorial Centennial half dollar, the Long Island Tercentenary half dollar of the same date, a half dollar observing the 100th anniversary of York County, Maine, another issue celebrating the sesquicentennial of Lynchburg, Virginia, and another of the centennial of Elgin, Illinois. Still another marked the 250th anniversary of the Charter of Albany, New York, and one more observed the opening of the Oakland-Bay Bridge.