One of the ways in which sponsoring organizations kept collectors updated about their commemorative coin issues was through the use of pre-printed postcards. These cards would serve as a way of answering general inquiries about the coins as well as providing updates to those who had placed orders.
Shown here is one such card. It was used for the Battle of Gettysburg half-dollar by the coin's sponsor, the Pennsylvania State Commission. Depending on your perspective, however, the message delivered by this card is either a case of wishful thinking or profit-minded deception.
Read More: Commems CollectionThe law authorizing the Gettysburg half-dollar was enacted on June 16, 1936. The Act included language that effectively limited the striking of the coins to a single mint. You'll note, however, that the card refers to the sponsor's request for coins from all three of the then active US Mint facilities (Philadelphia, Denver and San Francisco).
This wouldn't be a big deal if it were not for the fact that the card shown was mailed on July 30, 1936 - more than a month after the sponsor knew that only one mint would be used to strike the half-dollars. Outright deception? Maybe, but...
From the time the Gettysburg coin bill was introduced, Paul L. Roy, the Executive Secretary of the Pennsylvania State Commission, desired a P-D-S set of Gettysburg coins. The text of the original bill would have allowed the coin to be struck at all three mints. The Senate Committee on Banking and Currency stepped in, however, and amended the bill's language to limit the coin to a single mint.
This did stop Roy from "challenging" Congress and trying to realize his vision for the coin. He worked with his Congressman to get a new bill introduced in the House that would have amended the coin's original Act to remove the single mint restriction on the coin. The new bill did not receive the necessary support, however, and was not reported out of Committee.
With the new bill "defeated," Mr. Roy finally had to accept that a three-piece Gettysburg set was not to be. Considering this sequence of events, I don't believe that in continuing to send out the erroneous postcards Roy was guilty of anything more than being an optimist about what might yet be possible for the Gettysburg coin.
Eventually, reality could not be ignored and the Pennsylvania Commission replaced the card above with one indicating that all of the coins would come from the Philadelphia Mint. The replacement card, however, was a purveyor of intentional misinformation - but that's a story for another time.
Posted 03/21/2014 7:54 pm
