The 1997 Franklin Delano Roosevelt commemorative half eagle (i.e., $5.00 gold coin) was issued to help celebrate the opening of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC. It was authorized by Public Law 104-329 - one of seven commemorative coin programs authorized by the law.
Read More: Commems Collection
The memorial was created to honor FDR's memory and to pay tribute to his "leadership and legacy." It was dedicated by President William "Bill" Clinton on May 2, 1997; Mike Wallace, of
60 Minutes fame, served as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. It was the first presidential memorial to be dedicated in Washington, DC since the Jefferson Memorial in 1943.
Roosevelt, the 32nd US President, guided the US during two especially difficult times - the Great Depression and World War II. FDR is generally considered by historians to be among the top / most successful US presidents, often ranked just behind Abraham Lincoln (the consensus number one) and just ahead of George Washington. A memorial to one of the US' best is truly fitting.
The memorial's design can best be described as a "sculptural landscape" spread over 7.5 acres. It is located on the western edge of the Tidal Basin, in West Potomac Park, between the Jefferson Memorial and the Martin Luther King Memorial.
It is comprised of four outdoor "rooms" with each representing one of the four presidential terms to which FDR was elected. Bronze statues of FDR and/or others representing social and/or economic events associated with the identified presidential term are displayed within each room. Waterfalls and pools of water are also symbolically incorporated, along with thousands of trees, bushes and other plants. The memorial was designed by landscape architect Lawrence Halprin.
For a more complete description of the memorial, visit:
FDR Memorial.
The obverse of the FDR gold coin presents Roosevelt, in profile, facing right with the wind in his face. He is shown wearing his famous boat cloak, the same cloak FDR is seen wearing in photographs of him with Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. The image is based on a photograph of the president while he was aboard the USS
Houston, a US Navy cruiser, in San Francisco Bay on July 14, 1938. The photograph was taken as Roosevelt was conducting a Naval Review of the US fleet. The coin's design is the work of US Mint Sculptor-Engraver
T. James Ferrell.
You can check out the original photograph here:
FDR on USS Houston (The image is under AP copyright and the license fee for me to embed it here was too expensive.)
The main device on the coin's reverse is an adaptation of the official Presidential Seal that was used during Roosevelt's first inauguration in 1933; it can also be seen at the Memorial. The reverse was designed by Graphic Designer Jim Peed and engraved by Sculptor-Engraver
Thomas D. Rogers.
The coins went on sale on May 15, 1997 - the earliest date allowed by the coin's authorizing legislation - and concluded one year later on May 15, 1998. Each coin sold generated $35 in surcharges for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Commission. The proof version of the coin sold for $225.00; the uncirculated version for $205.00.
Proof and uncirculated versions of the coin were struck. Sales of the proof version reached 29,474 units, sales of the uncirculated coin totaled 11,894 - combined, the final mintage was 41,368. A total of 100,000 coins were authorized, so final sales represented just over 41% of what could have been produced. Though sales were lower than what was hoped for, $1,447,800 in surcharges were collected. As the coin did not go on sale until after the Memorial was dedicated, the surcharge funds helped support its development and construction "after the fact."
Note: I've seen a Mint-produced table showing a payment of $1,400,000 to the Memorial Commission. Either that figure was an estimate, or the lower surcharge amount distributed ($1,400,000 vs. $1,447,800) was the result of the legal requirement that the Mint capture all costs and expenses for a coin program prior to paying out surcharge funds.I have not yet visited the FDR Memorial, but it is part of my itinerary for a trip I am planning for later this year.
I plan to follow this post with one highlighting a special collector set that was also available for the FDR coin.
Until then, Happy Collecting!
1997 Franlkin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Gold $5.00 - Obverse
1997 Franlkin Delano Roosevelt Memorial Gold $5.00 - Reverse
Image Credits
FDR Portrait: Bureau of Engraving and Printing - Presidential Protrait Series
Coin Images: PCGS CoinFacts
Map: National Park Service
Posted 11/01/2016 11:05 pm
