Commems Collection Modern: What If? 2004 Lewis & Clark Bicentennial Half Dollar

A thought exercise...

Coin collectors interested in the 1804-1806 expedition of Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark - and their Corps of Discovery - had multiple opportunities to add a bicentennial numismatic collectible to their cabinet. You can read about many of the options by visiting Commems Collection and selecting "US Modern Commemoratives" from the Menu.

But the Lewis & Clark ("L & C") coin program, as originally proposed, would have resulted in a different coin program that likely would have yielded a different set of collector options.

The Act that authorized the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial Silver Dollar (a multi-coin Act that also authorized the Leif Ericson Millennium Silver Dollar and the Capitol Visitor Center coin program), called for 500,000 Silver Dollars; the Mint produced a variety of packaging options for coin (see link above), and created a program unique within the modern US series.

For the story of the original Lewis and Clark coin bills in Congress, see:

- 2004 Lewis And Clark Bicentennial - 105th Congress
- 2004 Lewis And Clark Bicentennial - 106th Congress

I'm not going to repeat the discussion of these events here, this post will focus on what the collector options might have been if one of the original L & C coin bills had been approved.

First, the impact of the alternate coin specifications and limited mintage requests would have been significant. Several of the predecessor L&C bills called for 200,000 Silver Dollars and 200,000 Silver Half Dollars. The approved L & C coin program sold over ~400,000 individual Silver Dollars (Proof and Uncirculated versions combined) plus another ~95,000 in special packaging - essentially a sell out of the 500,000 authorized.. A mintage of just 200,000 would appear to have been insufficient to meet demand.

If only 200,000 Silver Dollars had been authorized, the special packaging options (i.e., the "Coinage and Currency Set" and the "Coin and Pouch Set") might not have been produced. This would have made the L & C coin program far less novel and intriguing, IMO.

The lower Silver Dollar mintage would also likely have generated intense collector interest at the time of issue - collectors would have competed to obtain a rare L & C Silver Dollar and a rapid sell out would likely have occurred and today's marketplace would, in all likelihood, continue to see elevated selling prices (vs. Issue Prices and factoring in today's increased silver spot prices).

The inclusion of a Silver Half Dollar, on the other hand, had the potential to open other special options.

Using the 1993 James Madison-Bill of Rights ("JM-BoR") coin program as a guide, it's plausible to envision at least four special sets that could have incorporated a L & C Silver Half Dollar:

1. Coin & Stamp Set: A combination of the Silver Half Dollar and, perhaps, the 1954 Lewis and Clark Expedition 150th Anniversary stamp so as not to duplicate the stamps included in the "Coinage & Currency Set" that features the Silver Dollar.

1954 Lewis & Clark Expedition 150th Anniversary Stamp


2. Coin & Medal Set: A Set combining the Silver Half Dollar with an example of the small bronze Thomas Jefferson "Indian Peace Medal." The medal is a replica of the Thomas Jefferson medal carried by Lewis and Clark to present as a gift to select Native American tribal leaders (often chiefs) they encountered.

3. Young Collectors Set: A highly-graphical Set designed and written for a younger audience that presents a high-level overview of the Lewis and Clark expedition along with the Half Dollar - the "fun" Set of the offerings.

4. Expedition Journal Set: A special packaging option that presents highlights from the journals kept by Lewis and Clark during their expedition. A Silver Half Dollar could be embedded in the journal's cover.

With a proposed mintage of just 200,000 Silver Half Dollars, however, either the number of different Sets or the mintage of each Set would have to be limited in order to allow for individual and (possibly) two-coin set sales. I would have voted for the "Young Collectors Set" if only one set could have been produced.

Note: As a comparison, the Act that authorized the 1993 James-Madison-Bill of Rights coin program called for 1 million Silver Half Dollars - 5x the level requested by the early L & C coin bills. Such a mintage level gave the JM-BoR coin program far more flexibility in potential packaging options vs. the proposed L & C coin program.

In the end, I think it was a good decision to increase the mintage request for the L & C Silver Dollar in later versions of the initial proposal and the approved legislation. Even though modern US commemorative coin sales were weakening st the time, I don't believe a mintage of 200,000 Silver Dollars would have been sufficient to meet demand. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a program with 500,000 Silver Dollars AND 500,000 Silver Half Dollars. I believe some interesting options would have resulted!-


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