For collectors pursuing a complete date, variety and mint mark set of US commemorative half dollars, Wayte Raymond offered a corresponding set of boards. The boards were first printed/issued prior to the series' completion (in the 1930s), and thus reflected the issues current at the time. As the commemorative coin series evolved, so did Raymond's coin board set for it, either via the addition of captions to previously unmarked openings (or "wells") for newly released coins or an additional board for the set to house new issues.
The Wayte Raymond US Commemorative Half Dollars
Complete Set consists of 15 coin boards. The Stock Numbers for the boards in the Set are: 349-A through 349-O (consecutively).
For the complete 1950s set shown here, on the back of each board, at its top, is printed "No. 349 A Wayte Raymond Pubns. A. W. Faxon Distributor Mineola, N. Y. Made in U. S. A. Pat. No. 1,719,962."
(Note: The stock number listed here is used as an example - the number was unique to each board type.) This set reflects its distribution by Alan Faxon (i.e., after Raymond's death). The boards are, however, the genuine article.
I'm also showing the back of a board from an earlier printing of the set, at a time when Raymond was alive and directly managing the distribution of the boards.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 1 / 349-A
The first board of the Set (349-A) begins with spaces for the 1892 and 1893 World's Columbian Exposition half dollar and runs through the 1921 Alabama Statehood Centennial (Plain variety) issue. The board includes spots for both dates of the Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar and both varieties of the Missouri Statehood Centennial coin (Plain & 2*4).
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 2 / 349-B
The second board of the Set (349-B) begins with a space for the 1921 Alabama Statehood Centennial (2x2 variety) half dollar and runs through the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence. Openings for both varieties of the 1922 Grant Memorial half dollar (Plain & w/ Star) are included.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 3 / 349-C
The third board (349-C) of the Set begins with a space for the first-of-series 1926 Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar (Philadelphia issue) and runs through the 1934 Daniel Boone Bicentennial issue. The single-mint issues for the Oregon Trail Memorial coins of 1928 (Philadelphia issue), 1933 (Denver issue) and 1934 (Denver issue) are included.
Board Trivia: The board holds the first-year coins for the Oregon Trial Memorial, Texas Independence Centennial and Daniel Boone Bicentennial multi-year half dollar sets.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 4 / 349-D
The Set's fourth board (349-D) begins with a space for the 1935 Daniel Boone Bicentennial (Philadelphia issue) half dollar and runs through the 1935 Daniel Boone Bicentennial, Small 1934 (Denver issue) coin.
Included on the board are openings for the complete P/D/S set of 1935 Daniel Boone Bicentennial half dollars.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 5 / 349-E
The fifth board of the Set (349-E) starts with a space for the 1935 Daniel Boone Bicentennial, Small 1934 (San Francisco issue) coin and extends through the 1936 Arkansas Statehood Centennial (Philadelphia issue) half dollar.
Openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1935 Texas Independence Centennial and 1936 Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollars are included.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 6 / 349-F
The Set's sixth board (349-F) begins with a space for the 1936 Arkansas Statehood Centennial (Denver issue) half dollar and continues through the 1936 Oregon Trail Memorial (San Francisco issue) coin.
The board includes openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1936 Daniel Boone Bicentennial and 1936 Texas Centennial half dollars.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 7 / 349-G
The seventh board of the Set (349-G) begins with the 1936 California Pacific International Exposition issue (the 1935 issue was included on the fourth board) and ends with the 1936 Lynchburg, VA half dollar.
Openings are included for the complete P/D/S set of 1936 Cincinnati Musical Center coins.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 8 / 349-H
The eighth board (349-H) of the Set begins with a spot for the 1936 Elgin, IL Centennial half dollar and runs through the 1937 Oregon Trail Memorial coin.
Included are openings for the complete P/DE/S set of Columbia, SC Sesquicentennial coins.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 9 / 349-I
The Set's ninth board (349-I) begins with the 1936 Delaware Tercentenary piece and extends through the 1937 Daniel Boone Bicentennial (Denver issue) half dollar.
Openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1937 Arkansas Centennial and 1937 Texas Centennial half dollars are also included.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 10 / 349-J
The tenth board of the Set (349-J) starts with the 1937 Daniel Boone Bicentennial (San Francisco issue) coin and runs through to the 1938 Arkansas Centennial (Philadelphia issue) half dollar.
Openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1938 Oregon Trail Memorial and 1938 Texas Independence Centennial half dollars are included. The Texas Centennial series is completed on this board.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 11 / 349-K
The Set's eleventh board (349-K) begins with the 1938 Arkansas Centennial (Denver issue) half dollar and completes with the 1939 Arkansas Centennial (Denver issue) coin.
Openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1938 Daniel Boone Bicentennial and 1939 Oregon Trail Memorial half dollars are included; the Boone and Oregon Trail coins are each the last issues of their respective series.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 12 / 349-L
The twelfth board of the Set (349-L) begins with an opening for the 1939 Arkansas Centennial (San Francisco issue) coin and extends through the 1948 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial half dollar (Philadelphia issue).
The board includes openings for complete P/D/S sets of the 1946 and 1947 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial half dollars. The Arkansas Centennial series is completed on this board.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 13 / 349-M
The Set's thirteenth board (349-M) extends from the 1948 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (Denver issue) half dollar through the 1951 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial (Denver issue) coin.
The board incorporates spots for complete P/D/S sets of the 1949, 1950 and 1951 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial coins. The Booker T. Washington series is completed on this board.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 14 / 349-N
The fourteenth board of the Set (349-N) begins with the first year, 1951, of the George Washington Carver - Booker T. Washington half dollars and runs through the 1954 (Philadelphia issue) GWC-BTW coin.
The board houses complete P/D/S sets of 1951, 1952 and 1953 GWC-BTW half dollars.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Board 15 / 349-O
The fifteenth (and last) board of the Set (349-O) includes openings for the 1954 GWC-BTW half dollar (San Francisco and Denver issues) plus eight unlabeled openings for collectors to fill as they saw fit.
Eight unallocated openings in an album that already includes a spot for every date, variety and mint mark of the series' half dollars could be difficult to fill without resorting to duplicates. If I were currently using the boards to store a Complete Set of US commemorative coins, I would include an example of the first and last year of issue for the three circulating half dollars of the era (Barber 1892 & 1915, Walking Liberty 1916 & 1947 and Franklin 1948 & 1963) to offer some sense of context. I probably would have stopped there, keeping the other two wells empty and have them serve as separators from the commemorative coins.
US Commemorative Half Dollars: Complete Set, Back of Board - Wayte Raymond Publisher - A. W. Faxon Distributor
For more of my posts on commemorative coins and medals, have a look at:
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Posted 03/20/2022 1:53 pm
