Commems Collection: What If? 1937 Michigan Statehood Half Dollar

It's been a while since I last posted about a commemorative half dollar that "almost was." So, here goes.

By 1936, Congress had already favored several states with a commemorative half dollar celebrating its statehood anniversary. Illinois was the first in 1918, but it was followed by Maine (1920), Alabama (1921), Missouri (1921), California (1925) and Arkansas (1935). In addition to these statehood coins, Congress had also authorized coins to mark important colonial (Maryland, Connecticut), territorial (Hawaii) or "independence" (Vermont, Texas) anniversaries of present-day states.

It was only natural that other states of the Union would desire a coin to mark their statehood date. One such state was Michigan which was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837 as the 26th state.

An interesting note about its date of admittance: the residents of Michigan had petitioned for statehood after approving a state constitution and forming a state government in 1835, but Congress would not recognize its statehood until its boundary dispute with Ohio was resolved. Congress made a proposal in 1836 that called for Michigan to give up the common border territory jointly claimed by it and Ohio in exchange for the majority portion of the Upper Peninsula. Though Michigan initially rejected the proposal, it eventually agreed to it in December 1836 and became a state approximately six weeks later.

In May 1936, during the 74th Congress, a bill calling for a 50-cent piece "in commemoration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the admission of the State of Michigan as one of the United States." was introduced in the House by Louis Charles Rabaut (D-MI). The bill specified a mintage of just 5,000 coins to be struck on behalf of the Detroit Coin Club Committee; the proposed mintage would have made the piece the key type coin within the silver series. It was referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, but was never heard from again.

In February 1937, the proposal was revisited in the 75th Congress via companion bills introduced in the House and Senate. The bills called for 25,000 silver half dollars this time around (vs. just 5,000) and restated the name of the sponsor as the Detroit Coin Club Commemorative Half-Dollar Committee (emphasis added). Each of the bills was open-ended in regards to mintage specifications: the Director of the Mint was not limited to using just one Mint facility (i.e., P-D-S sets could have been struck) and striking of the coins was not limited to 1937. Only the relatively small mintage limit of 25,000 would have prevented the potential issue from becoming another extended multi-year series coin like the Arkansas and Texas pieces, but I could imagine coins being issued with "1937" and "1938" dates.

Each of the bills was referred to its respective committee in charge of coinage matters - neither was reported out for consideration.

Gaining approval for a new commemorative coin was getting harder and harder to achieve in 1937 as Congress had finally begun to understand all the negatives associated with approving a large, steady stream of new coins and had begun to curtail its agreements with such proposals. In such an environment, the Michigan Statehood half dollar was never able to gain the level of support needed to get it out of committee and be put to a vote on either chamber's floor.

After failing to gain authorization for a silver half dollar, the Detroit Coin Club apparently did not pursue a privately-struck commemorative medal for Michigan's centennial - nor did any other group - as I've not yet encountered such a piece.