Commems Collection Classic: Quick Bits 122 - A Frontiersman Connection

This is one of the most obvious connections within the classic-era US commemorative coin series: 1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial Half Dollar and 1934 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial Half Dollar. The two coins are connected via their depictions of frontiersman Daniel Boone.

Daniel Boone is most strongly connected with the exploration and settling of what is now Kentucky, but he was born in Pennsylvania in 1734. He moved with his family to present-day North Carolina in 1753 and stayed there for more than a decade. In 1767, he began his explorations of the rich hunting grounds that today are within Kentucky and, under contract in 1775, established a road through the Cumberland Gap (through the Appalachian Mountains) for settlers to travel to and settle in Kentucky. He built a fort at what would become Boonesborough, Kentucky and helped establish it as one of the first settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains.

He fought in the American Revolution, served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates (1781, 1787 and 1791) after the War, then returned to Kentucky where he owned/operated a tavern and worked as a land surveyor. He moved to Missouri in 1799 and lived out his life there. Boone died in Missouri in 1820, the year before it transitioned from Territory to State. His two decades in Missouri forever linked him to it.

1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial Half Dollar, Plain Variety


1934 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial Half Dollar


1934 Boone Birth Bicentennial and 1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial - a birth to death connection for Daniel Boone.


For more of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including others about the Missouri Statehood and Boone Birth half dollars, see: Commems Collection.