Commems Collection Classic: "Did You Know?" Denver And San Francisco Coins #15

Of the 50 types of classic silver commemoratives, only 14 types (28%) were struck at the US branch mints of Denver or San Francisco. Denver was not the sole mint for any of the commemoratives; it only struck type coins in conjunction with Philadelphia and/or San Francisco. The San Francisco Mint, on the other hand, served as the only source for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1923 Monroe Doctrine Centennial, 1925 California Statehood Diamond Jubilee, 1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial and 1936 San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge half-dollars.

The San Francisco Mint struck its first commemoratives, as noted above, in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition; it struck the silver half-dollar and all of the gold coins authorized. The first commemorative coin struck at the Denver Mint was the 1933 Oregon Trail Memorial half-dollar. Though the Oregon Trail coins were struck at all three US mints over the course of their decade plus run, each mint was not used for every year of issue. This created the novel situation in which the Denver Mint was the only mint to strike Oregon Trail half-dollars in 1933, 1934 and 1937.

Here's a list of silver US commemoratives that were struck at Denver and/or San Francisco:

- 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition: San Francisco (exclusive)
- 1923 Monroe Doctrine Centennial: San Francisco (exclusive)
- 1925 California Statehood Diamond Jubilee: San Francisco (exclusive)
- 1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial: San Francisco ( no mint mark; exclusive)
- 1926-1939 Oregon Trail Memorial: Denver (1933 [exclusive], 1934 [exclusive], 1937 [exclusive], 1938-1939); San Francisco (1926, 1936, 1938, 1939)
- 1934-1938 Texas Independence Centennial: Denver (1935-1938); San Francisco (1935-1938)
- 1934-1938 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial: Denver (1935-1938); San Francisco (1935-1938)
- 1935-1939 Arkansas Statehood Centennial: Denver (1935-1939); San Francisco (1935-1939)
- 1935-1936 California-Pacific Exposition / San Diego: Denver (1936 [exclusive]); San Francisco (1935 [exclusive])
- 1936 Rhode Island Tercentenary: Denver, San Francisco
- 1936 Cincinnati: San Francisco, Denver
- 1936 San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge: San Francisco (exclusive)
- 1936 Columbia, SC Sesquicentennial: Denver, San Francisco
- 1946-1951 Booker T. Washington Memorial: Denver (1946-1951); San Francisco (1946-1951)
- 1951-1954 George W. Carver-Booker T Washington: Denver (1951-1954); San Francisco (1951-1954)

Note: Date-Mint combinations not listed as "exclusive" indicates that coins were also struck in Philadelphia during that year.