Commems Collection Classic: What If? 1939 Guilford, CT Tercentenary

In April 2022, I posted a What If? story about the 300th anniversaries of three Connecticut towns - Branford, Guilford and Milford. As the three nearly identical coin bills in question were introduced by the same Representative on the same day, I combined the three into a single post and did not discuss any of each town's history. So, I decided to swing back around and give each of the Connecticut towns a thread of its own with a brief historical backgrounder and additional information about its Congressional path. As each of the coin bills in question was nearly identical to the other two, and each experienced the same journey in Congress, there is noticeable commonality of text between my posts for each.


In January 1939, during the First Session of the 76th Congress, James Andrew Shanley (D-CT) introduced a bill that called for half dollars "in commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the town of Guilford (Guilford Tercentenary)." The bill was immediately referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.

From https://www.connecticuthistory.org:

"Guilford, in New Haven County, is located in southern Connecticut on the Long Island Sound. Originally called Menunkatucket, the Quinnipiac sold it, along with land stretching from present day Niantic to Branford, to Puritans led by Henry Whitfield. It was settled in 1639, renamed Guilford, and admitted to New Haven Colony in 1643. One of the few shore towns to escape British attack in the Revolutionary War, Guilford citizens organized a raid on British provisions stored at Sag Harbor, Long Island. Stone quarried from Leete's Island has been used in the building of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Lighthouse at Lighthouse Point, New Haven."

Shanley's bill called for just 5,000 coins to be struck, an unusually low mintage request. Was it a matter of low anticipated demand? An attempt to create a series scarcity to generate high demand among collectors? The request of an uninformed Congressman who hadn't done his homework? The answer is unknown (at least to me!).

The coins were to feature the date "1939" regardless of when struck, and were to be distributed only to the Guilford Tercentenary Commemorative Coin Association ("Association"). The Association was to receive all authorized coins in a single batch, and was authorized to sell them at a premium to raise funds for its planned Tercentenary commemoration.

The bill stalled in the House Committee and was never considered by the full House. Had the bill been fully considered by either the House Committee or Senate Committee on Banking and Currency, it is very likely that it would have been amended to at least 10,000 coins - but more likely 25,000 - as per recently-adopted Committee guidelines regarding commemorative coins and its actual implementation of them. (See Quick Bits #44 - Senate Committee On Banking And Currency for more details.)

When the 76th Congress adjourned on January 3, 1941, the bill died for lack of action.


If you are interested in checking out my combination post for these three Connecticut towns, see:

- What If? 1939 Guilford, Milford & Branford, CT Tercentenary


For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see: Commems Collection.