Post Your Coins And Medals Featuring A Map

1995 200 Escudos from Portugal.


2006 50 cents from Australia.



Steve :)

Here's my example of the 1935 Old Spanish Trail commemorative half dollar. The coin was issued to commemorate "the four hundredth anniversary of the Expedition of Cabeza de Vaca and the opening of the Old Spanish Trail." (Public Law 74-97)

Its obverse depicts the skull of a cow, while its reverse features a map of the Gulf Coast states (from east to west) of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas with the alleged "Old Spanish Trail" expedition route of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca in (or about) 1535. The reverse also includes a blooming yucca tree in the center foreground. The "Cabeza de Vaca" portion of the explorer's name translates to "Cow's Head" - hence, the obverse design in absence of confirmed paintings/drawings of the man himself. (I've covered the issues with the coin's history previously, see links below).

Lyman William (LW) Hoffecker, the man behind the coin, created the preliminary designs.

1935 Old Spanish Trail Half Dollar




The trail shown on the Old Spanish Trail half dollar is a rough approximation of the route taken by Alvar de Nunez's expedition from the time the expedition team arrived on the gulf coast of Florida to when a small remnant of it landed (it is believed) on Galveston Island off the coast of present-day Texas. (It should be noted that Alva de Nunez was not initially the leader of the expedition, he only rose to such a position only after much of the original contingent, including its leader, had perished.)

The coin also (theoretically) depicts Cabeza de Vaca's journey across Texas, but it doesn't show his travels into New Mexico, Arizona or the northern provinces of Mexico. It's interesting to note, however, that the coin does depict a trail that terminates in El Paso, Texas - the home of Hoffecker's coin shop - even though Nunez traveled beyond Texas. It does make one wonder...

Disregarding the inaccuracy of the coin's trail route for a moment, the coin's theme/subject is also a bit of a misnomer. The name "Old Spanish Trail" is actually associated with a trail that connected Santa Fe, New Mexico with southern California. The creation of the trail was largely driven by the desire/need to link Santa Fe and Los Angeles for trading purposes; it developed in the late 1820s / early 1830s (vs. Nunez's trip in the 1530s). The trail shown on the coin was never part of this trade route through the western expanse of the future US states of New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada and California.

So, while Alvar de Nunez Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore and document many of the areas of the American West in which he traveled, the path he took never became a "trail" that was followed by others. In fact, when he set out across Texas, he was in search of a Spanish outpost in Mexico rather than embarking on a journey of exploration. As he didn't know the location of the post, he was not able to travel directly to it and the actual path he followed is not known.

Map of Actual Old Spanish Trail

(Image Credit: Public Domain.)

In the end, however misnamed and historically inaccurate the coin may be, it does feature a map and thus "makes the cut" for this thread!


To learn more about the Old Spanish Trail half dollar, check out:

- 1935 Old Spanish Trail
- 1935 Old Spanish Trail - Redux
- Quick Bits #20 - 1935 Spanish Trail Designers
- 1935 Old Spanish Trail - Coins with Flora Thread

For more posts about commemorative coins and medals, check out: Read More: Commems Collection.

2002 Austria.
5 € cent.

1965 Republic of the United States of Brazil
(1889-1967)
10 Cruzeiros.

The Carver-Washington (C-W) commemorative half dollars, struck from 1951 through 1954, feature an obverse design of right-facing, conjoined portraits of George W. Carver (front) and Booker T. Washington; the reverse of the coin is dominated by an inaccurate political map of the continental United States (Alaska and Hawaii were not states at the time). The coin was designed by Isaac Scott Hathaway.

The C-W series was the result of an amendment to / extension of the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial coin series (1946-51) and was issued "to commemorate the lives and perpetuate the ideals and teachings of Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, two great Americans." (Public Law 82-151)

I've discussed each honoree in more detail in my "Conjoined Portraits" post about the coin - see below for a link.

The final reverse design presents a map of the US at its center with the inscription "FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL ** AMERICANISM **" encircling it. A large "U. S. A." extends across the map. I've railed against the map in other of my posts, so I won't repeat myself here. I will only say that the map is poorly rendered, contains a large number of misshapen and incorrectly outlined states, is missing Delaware and lacks the borders that define West Virginia.

It's interesting to note that the map reverse was not the first design proposed. Previously, a design that featured a prominent American Legion emblem was proposed; the center emblem was encircled by the long and strong inscription: Outer Ring - "BOOKER T. WASHINGTON BIRTHPLACE MEMORIAL, VA * GEORGE W. CARVER NAT'L MONUMENT FOUNDATION, MO *" and, Inner Ring - "UNITED AGAINST THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM - NATIONAL AMERICANISM COMMISSION." It all made for a very busy design.

Though the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) approved the reverse design, it was stopped by the US State Department which thought it was too strong in its anti-communism message - it was a delicate time for US-Russia relationships. (Political correctness in 1950?)

With this decision made, an alternate design with the map of the US and a less militant inscription was prepared and approved by the CFA. The Mint and Treasury Department were not happy with the artistic execution of either of the coin's sides, but moved ahead with the designs as they had already been approved. Chief Sculptor-Engraver Gilroy Roberts made what refinements he could before the master die for the coins was finalized and the mints began striking them.

1951-54 George Washington Carver - Booker T. Washington Half Dollar





You can learn more about the Carver-Washington half dollar here:

- 1951-54 Carver-Washington Half Dollar
- Carver vs. Carver-Washington
- 1951-54 Carver-Washington - Coins with Stars Thread
- 1951-54 Carver-Washington - Coins with Cojoined Portaits Thread


View other of my posts about the original Booker T. Washington half dollar and other commemorative coins and medals here: Read More: Commems Collection.

Great pair!

Well done! I was hoping you would add some of your wisdom!

As I have mentioned before, my example is forever linked with you since we were at the same coin show when I purchased it.