Post Your Coins With Stars

Outstanding!

1947 US
½ Dollar " Walking Liberty half dollar"

Two groups of 12 stars (24 in total) are featured on the reverse of the 1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial half dollar. The 24 stars are representative of Missouri being the 24th State to be admitted to the Union, doing so on August 10, 1821.

The coin was designed by Robert Aitken; Aitken also designed the 1915 Panama-Pacific $50 gold commemorative coins and the 1935-36 California-Pacific International Exposition ("San Diego") half dollars. A left-facing portrait of Daniel Boone is featured on its obverse with Boone standing with a Native American chief on the reverse; Boone is shown with his left arm raised to shoulder height with his hand extended, palm side up, pointing to the West and seemingly discussing the potential it holds. The figures are flanked by the two groups of 12 stars.

The use of stars to represent Statehood order is a natural design choice, considering how they are used to represent the individual states on the US Flag and how new stars are added when a new state is admitted. The Missouri coin joins the 1921 Alabama and the 1946 Iowa Statehood Centennial half dollars in the use of stars to represent the State's admission order.

Between 5,000 and 10,000 of the Missouri half dollars include a special mark on their obverse - a "2" and "4" separated by an incuse star; the added symbol is located above the "1821" in the left field. These "2*4" coins are a commonly-collected variety of the Missouri commemorative coin.

1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial Half Dollar, Plain Variety




1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial Half Dollar, 2*4 Variety





You can read more about the Missouri half dollar, and its two varieties, here:

- 1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial - Plain
- 1921 Missouri Statehood Centennial - 2*4
- 1921 Missouri - Advertising a Rejected Design

More stories about other commemorative coins and medals, can be found here: Read More: Commems Collection.

"Stars as separators" is the design model in play for the 1946-51 Booker T. Washington (BTW) commemorative half dollars, as two five-pointed stars are to be found on the coin's reverse flanking the motto "LIBERTY." The stars separate the motto from the legend "BOOKER T WASHINGTON BIRTHPLACE MEMORIAL" that encircles the center design elements between the 7:30 and 4:30 clock positions.

The coin was issued to "commemorate the life and perpetuate the ideals and teachings of Booker T. Washington" and to help raise funds to "purchase, construct, and maintain suitable memorials to the memory of Booker T. Washington," (Public Law 79-610) The coin was sponsored by the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial of Franklin County, VA.

Isaac Scott Hathaway designed the coin; he also designed the closely-related George Washington Carver - Booker T. Washington half dollar that was issued from 1951 through 1954. I believe the overall design is reasonably well-balanced on each side of the coin, though I've always been of the opinion that the date is oddly placed - I can't help but think the coin's appearance would have been more aesthetically pleasing if it was placed to the right of BTW's portrait. I think moving "E PLURIBUS UNUM" to the reverse, replacing "FRANKLIN COUNTY VA" with it and filling in the vacated obverse space with the date would have worked better - but it's easy to be critical 75 years later!

1946 Booker T. Washington Half Dollar





If you'd like to learn a bit more about the BTW half dollar, check out:

- 1946 Booker T. Washington Memorial
- 1946 Booker T. Washington Memorial - Ephemera
- Booker T. At Mardi Gras
- What if? A Third Booker T. Washington Coin

Other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals can be found here: Read More: Commems Collection.

1892 Bolivia 10 centavos:

The nine stars on the coin are symbolic of Bolivia's nine administrative departments. A 10th star was added to the Bolivian Arms in the late 1960s in memory of Bolivia's tenth department which was lost to Peru during a war in 1879; the updated Arms appear on Bolivia's current coinage.

The George Washington Carver - Booker T. Washington Memorial commemorative half dollars that were issued from 1951 through 1954 include stars on their obverse as well as reverse. The stars on the reverse, however, give the coins a "starry" distinction within the series.

On the obverse, stars are used to separate the inscriptions/mottoes at the rim. Two individual stars flank the legend "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and are used to separate it from the mottoes "E PLURIBUS UNUM" and "IN GOD WE TRUST." A third star separates the two mottoes from each other.

The reverse also uses stars to separate inscriptions, but the design does so in a manner not seen on any other US commemorative coin of the era - it uses a pair of small five-pointed stars on either side of "AMERICANISM" to separate it from "FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL" vs. single stars. It's a subtle difference for sure, but a unique differentiator nonetheless.

The coin was designed by Isaac Scott Hathaway. IMO, his map of the United States on the coin's reverse is the kind of distorted and inaccurate map I would expect in a drawing by a young child in school who is new to learning about how the states are arranged to form the US. To my eyes, it detracts immensely from the coin's general appeal.

1946 Carver-Washington Half Dollar





You can learn more about the coin here:

- 1951 Carver-Washington Half Dollar
- Carver vs. Carver-Washington

View other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals here: Read More: Commems Collection.

2012 Bolivia 2 Bolivianos: