Commems Collection Classic: 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary - Historical Tidbits

A few tidbits about the 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar:


Tidbit #1

United States ("US") President Calvin Coolidge was presented with the first Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar during a White House ceremony on February 21, 1924. Present at the ceremony were the France Ambassador to the US Jean Jules Juusserand and Charles S. McFarland, the General Secretary of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America and Chairman of the Executive Committee the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission (the coin's legislative sponsor).


Tidbit #2

The US Post Office Department issued three stamps in 1924 to commemorate the arrival of the Huguenots and Walloons in the US, and the 300th Anniversary of the settlement of Manhattan and the Middle Atlantic States.

The stamps were/are in denominations of 1-cent, 2-cent and 5-cents:





(Images Source: Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Public Domain.)


Tidbit #3

The Queen of Holland - Queen Wilhelmina - the King of Belgium - Albert I - and the President of France - Gaston Doumergue - were presented with a 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar, along with a sheet of each of the three commemorative stamps issued for the anniversary.

The stamp sheets were signed - in the margins - by the US Postmaster General Harry Stewart New, an Assistant Postmaster General W. Irvin Glover, the Superintendent of the Division of Stamps Michael L. Eidness and Dr. John Baer Stoudt, Director, Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary Commission.


Tidbit #4

In early 1924, historian Dr. John Baer Stoudt (Director, Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary Commission) attempted to address the controversy surrounding the questionable choice of William the Silent and Admiral Coligny - two men who never visited the New World - for the coin's obverse:

"It was William the Silent, the George Washington of Holland, who first sheltered the Huguenots when they were driven from France and Belgium by religious persecution, Coligny was the first of the great leaders of Europe to suggest America as a place of refuge for those seeking religious freedom."


1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar



For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more Huguenot-Walloon stories, see: Commems Collection