In my previous post on the 1925 California Diamond Jubilee half-dollar, I featured a few pages from the book published by the Jubilee Committee in 1927; the pages presented the coin and provided a nice history of it. (Read it here:
http://goccf.com/t/117524) Tonight, I present a publication that was available during the Jubilee.
Many of the classic US commemoratives were coined in conjunction with some sort of celebratory event/exposition - World's Columbian Exposition, Lewis and Clark Exposition, Panama-Pacific International Exposition, etc. Following in line, the 1925 California half-dollar was issued as a souvenir piece to commemorate the state's Diamond Jubilee; it was celebrated in San Francisco, CA from September 5th through the 12th.
Read More: Commems CollectionIt was usual for these events to have an
Official Program booklet available for purchase by visitors. In some of these booklets, a discussion and/or picture(s) of the event's commemorative coin was presented. The
Program for the Diamond Jubilee did a very thorough job of outlining the events that were to take place each day and of listing the various Committee members that worked to make the Jubilee possible, but it was a bit light on its presentation of the coin, including just a single descriptive paragraph and no picture.
The coin was designed by Jo Mora. A picture of Mora was included alongside the mention of the coin. A picture of the Chairman of the Souvenir Coin Committee - George Filmer - was also featured. The Program included pictures of the Chairs of seemingly all of the various Committees! These pages along with the
Program's cover are shown below.
The
Program mentions that 300,000 coins were authorized. The San Francisco Mint struck 150,000 in time for the Jubilee, but sales were lower than anticipated and 63,606 of these pieces were eventually returned to the Mint for melting. The coins sold for $1.00 each.
1925 California Diamond Jubilee Half-Dollar - Obverse
1925 California Diamond Jubilee Half-Dollar â€" Reverse
California Diamond Jubilee Official Program - Cover
California Diamond Jubilee Official Program - Coin Page
California Diamond Jubilee Official Program - Coin Committee Chairman Page
Posted 03/05/2013 11:33 am
