Commems Collection Classic: "Did You Know?" #13 - Rim Treatments

Almost all of the classic silver commemoratives are devoid of rim treatments, i.e., denticles or beads. Just six (maybe eight) issues feature some sort of design element at the coin's rim.

In keeping with the current circulating silver coins at the time (Barbers and Morgans), the first three classic series commemoratives -- 1893-93 Columbian half-dollar, 1893 Isabella quarter-dollar and 1900 Lafayette dollar -- all had rim denticles on their obverse and reverse.








The next coin to have a rim "treatment" of some sort was the 1918 Illinois which featured an alternating series of what has been called "beads and pellets."




The 1928 Hawaiian featured an unusual obverse rim design element -- a continuous series of small waves.




The last classic commemorative to use a rim treatment was the 1938 New Rochelle, which featured rim denticles.




So, that makes six coins with some sort of design element at the rim. My two "maybe" coins? The 1923 Monroe Doctrine and 1935 Old Spanish Trail half-dollars, each features a thin raised line just inside the rim that encircles the main design elements. I'll leave it to you to decide if you'd include these pieces in your commemorative "rim" set!






While many of the commemorative half-dollars featured rather busy designs that would have made it hard to fit rim treatments onto the coin, it was more likely the case that the commemoratives were just following the "modern" trend of plain rims seen on the new US circulating coinage of the era -- neither the Lincoln Cent, Buffalo nickel, Liberty Head (Mercury) dime, Washington quarter-dollar, Walking Liberty half-dollar or Peace dollar featured anything at their rims.