Commems Collection Classic: 1946 Booker T. Washington

Tonight we take a quick look at one of the last coins of the classic US commemorative series, the Booker Taliaferro Washington (BTW) half-dollar presented in PCGS MS-66.

The BTW coin was authorized at the same time as the Iowa Statehood Centennial half-dollar. It was more of a "lifetime achievement" commemorative honoring the man's accomplishments as a teacher, leader and spokesman for the US African-American community; the coin did not mark a particular anniversary of an important date/event in his life. The coin was issued to help raise funds to support the creation of a permanent memorial to BTW's life -- the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial.

The design for the coin was originally prepared by noted sculptor Charles Keck, who also designed the Lynchburg Sesquicentennial, Vermont-Bennington Sesquicentennial and Panama-Pacific Exposition half-dollars. Late in the process, after Keck had already submitted his designs, Isaac Scott Hathaway, an African-American artist who owned a life-mask of BTW came forward and offered to prepare the coin's models free of charge. His designs, with revisions, were ultimately selected over Keck's by the Commission of Fine Arts (though Keck's designs had the original approval of the BTW Birthplace Committee) and resulted in the coin we are all familiar with today. The obverse features BTW's portrait, while the reverse highlights his rise from being born into slavery in 1856 to a position of political leadership and induction into the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at New York University.

The coin shown is a brilliant, lustrous example struck by the Philadelphia Mint in 1946. The coins were struck by all three mints every year from 1946 through 1951; the ‘D' and ‘S' mintmarks are on the reverse below the cabin. Ultimately, over 1.56 million coins were minted.

I've included an "extra" tonight, a set of mintmarked coins from 1946 in one of the original black leatherette holders.

Enjoy!


1946 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial -- Obverse




1946 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial -- Reverse




1946 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial -- Set in Holder



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