Commems Collection Classic: Quick Bits #91 - Collecting Colonies - Part II

Wrapping up my quick survey of classic-era US commemorative coins with a colonization theme...

1935 Connecticut Tercentenary

The Connecticut Half Dollar was issued to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Connecticut Colony (aka, the River Colony). It can be argued that the Connecticut Colony was founded in April 1636 when representatives from Dorcester (present-day Windsor), Newtowne (Hartford) and Watertowne (Wethersfield) met and formed a cooperative alliance, but European settlement roots trace back to at least 1635 and so that was the year upon which the Connecticut Tercentenary Commission decided to base 300th Anniversary commemorations.




1936 Providence, Rhode Island Tercentenary

Rhode Island is the result of the merger of several settlements/colonies that were all created in the name of religious and political tolerance. The two primary colonies were 1) Providence Plantations and 2) Rhode Island Plantation. The former was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, while the latter's roots are traceable to 1637 and the arrival of William Coddington and his wife Anne Hutchinson on Aquidneck Island (ultimately Rhode Island). Each of these founders left/were forced to leave the Massachusetts Bay Colony due to the religious and political intolerance they experienced while there. Officially, the coin commemorates the 300th Anniversary of Providence, RI, but, today, collectors generally view it as a statewide commemorative piece. The coin was sponsored by the Providence Tercentenary Committee.




1936 Long Island Tercentenary

The coin commemorates the 300th anniversary of the first European - Dutch - settlement on the island in 1636. In that year, some settlers who had been living in Manhattan ventured across the East River and began setting up farms on the western edge of Lange Eylandt (present-day Long Island) - these early farms were the impetus behind Long Island's 1936 Tercentenary celebrations. The farms of Long Island became the source for much of the food that found its way to the tables in New Amsterdam (present-day New York City), the capital/seat of government of the Dutch New Netherland colony. The coin was sponsored by the Long Island Tercentenary Committee.




1936 (1938) Landing of Swedes at Delaware

Under the leadership of Peter Minuit, two ships left Sweden in December 1637 bound for the New World to establish New Sweden. The larger of the two ships was the Kalmar Nyckel, with the smaller being the Fogel Grip. The ships arrived in March 1638, sailing first through Delaware Bay and up the Delaware River, and then up a smaller river that opened on the Delaware River's western shore - it would be named the Christina River in honor of Queen Christina of Sweden. The colonists landed at a rock outcropping a couple of miles from the mouth of the river in what is today Wilmington, Delaware. The coin was sponsored by Delaware Sweden Tercentenary Commission.




For more "Colonization Commemoratives," check out: Collecting Colonies - Part I


For more of my topics on commemorative coins and medals, including more details on each of the coins mentioned here, see: Commems Collection.