I previously posted several interesting notes about the Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial half dollars, and have decided to swing back and post a few more. Yoiu can read the previous post here:
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1934-38 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial - Notes1934 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial Half Dollar
It was the Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar that gave C. Frank Dunn his first experiences with US commemorative coins; In 1925,
The Atlanta Constituion appointed Dunn as Kentucky's Publicity Director for the Stone Mountain coin. At the time, Dunn was the Managing Director of the Lexington Automobile Club and Blue Grass Tours, both of Lexington, KY. (Dunn was later responsible for managing (poorly and selfishly) the Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial coin program that caused outrage among collectors.)
C. Frank Dunn was the editor of
Kentucky Progress Magazine in 1929-30; he was its first editor. The magazine was a publicity/tourism vehicle for the Kentucky Progress Commission (formed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1928), and promoted the State and the means by which the people of Kentucky could work together for their mutual welfare.
At the time he was selected for the Boone Bicentennial Commission ("Commission") in January 1934, C. Frank Dunn was listed as the Executive Director of Blue Grass Tours. He was among those who began meeting in 1933 to consider/plan for a program to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Boone. This early engagement directly led to him being selected for the 15-member Commission by Kentucky Governor Ruby Laffoon after a bill establishing the Commission was created by the Kentucky General Assembly on January 20, 1934.
The president of the Boone Family Association, Colonel William Boone Douglas, suggested to the Commission that a Daniel Boone commemorative coin might be an effective fundraising tool for the Commission's planned celebrations.
The Commission supported the coin idea and worked with US Senator Alben Barkley (D-KY) and US Representative Virgil Chapman (D-KY) to get coins bills introduced in the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. The Senate version of the bill was authorized by Congress and signed into law by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on May 26, 1934.
The Commission created the Pioneer National Monument Association (PNMA) to "further projects, plans, and celebrations" of the Commission. The PNMA received $30,000 from coin sales and set out to purchase key tracts of land in Kentucky with strong connection to Daniel Boone - Boonesborough, Boone's Station, Bryan's Station and Blue Licks Battlefield. I posted about the PNMA and its land acquisition story previously, you can read it here:
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1934-38 Daniel Boone Birth Bicentennial - Use Of The Funds Collected From the start, the Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission envisioned its Boone-related site / land acquisition project requiring multiple years to complete - a key reason behind the coin program's multi-year issue. The multiple coin issues were driven (at least originally) by good intentions, not just greed.
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more stories about Boone Bicentennial coins, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 08/23/2023 2:38 pm
