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CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives
 United States
12252 Posts |
Collectors of the classic series of US commemorative silver coins know that the key coins of the 50-piece type set are the 1928 Hawaiian Sesquicentennial, the 1935 Hudson, NY Sesquicentennial and the 1935 Old Spanish Trail half dollars; each of these coins has a mintage of just 10,000 pieces. In the case of the Hawaiian, 9,950 uncirculated pieces were struck along with 50 sand-blasted proofs. So, by 50 coins, the Hawaiian is considered the "key" to the "circulation strike" type set.
If the 50-piece set is expanded to 55 so as to include the several varieties (i.e., 1921 Alabama Plain and "2x2," the 1921 Missouri Plain and "2x4," the 1922 Grant with and without "Star," plus the "Small Date" 1921 Pilgrim and 1935 Boone), the new key coin becomes the Grant with Star which has a net mintage of just 4,250.
But if the complete 144-piece silver set is considered, a very different picture emerges. The Hawaiian, Hudson and Spanish Trail all fall out of the Top 60 and the Grant with Star hangs on to a Top 20 position by only the slimmest of margins.
What lower mintage coins take their places? One has only to look at the ongoing series of the Oregon Trail Memorial, Arkansas Centennial, Boone Bicentennial and Texas Centennial coins to find an answer.
The two scarcest classic commemorative coins are the 1935-D and 1935-S "Small Date" varieties of the 1934-38 Boone Bicentennial series. Each of these coins had a net mintage of just 2,000.
Positions 3 through 8 on the list are filled by the 1938 P-D-S coins from the Boone series along with the 1939 P-D-S coins from the 1935-39 Arkansas series. Just 2,100 of each of these coins were struck at Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco.
Rounding out the Top 10 are two more coins from the Boone series, the 1937-D and 1937-S each had a net mintage of 2,500.
The following list presents all of the classic US silver commemorative coins with a net mintage of 5,000 or fewer (31 in total):
1. 1935-D Boone, Small Date: 2,000
1. 1935-S Boone, Small Date: 2,000
3. 1938-(P) Boone: 2,100
3. 1938-D Boone: 2,100
3. 1935-S Boone: 2,100
3. 1939-(P) Arkansas: 2,100
3. 1939-D Arkansas: 2,100
3. 1939-S Arkansas: 2,100
9. 1937-D Boone: 2,500
9. 1937-S Boone: 2,500
11. 1939-(P) Oregon Trail: 3,000
11. 1939-D Oregon Trail: 3,000
11. 1939-S Oregon Trail: 3,000
14. 1938-(P) Arkansas: 3,150
14. 1938-D Arkansas: 3,150
14. 1938-S Arkansas: 3,150
17. 1938-D Texas: 3,770
18. 1938-(P) Texas: 3,775
19. 1938-S Texas: 3,808
20. 1922 Grant with Star: 4,250
21. 1921 Missouri 2x4: 5,000
21. 1933-D Oregon Trail: 5,000
21. 1936-(P) Oregon Trail: 5,000
21. 1936-S Oregon Trail: 5,000
21. 1935-D Boone: 5,000
21. 1935-S Boone: 5,000
21. 1936-D Boone: 5,000
21. 1936-S Boone: 5,000
21. 1936-(P) Cincinnati: 5,000
21. 1936-D Cincinnati: 5,000
21. 1936-S Cincinnati: 5,000
It's interesting to note that while none of the lowest mintage type coins mentioned at the top of this post are included on this list of 31 coins with a net mintage of 5,000 or fewer, 11 Boone coins made it, as did 6 Oregon Trail and 6 Arkansas half dollars. Each of these three issues is relatively common as a type, but together they represent 23 of the 31 lowest mintage individual coins - a whopping 74%!
So, if collecting the lowest mintage examples of a series is your thing, pursuing a non-traditional "5,000 or Less" US silver commemorative set might be just the thing for you!
Happy Collecting!
Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved.
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Posted 04/08/2015 7:50 pm
