Post Your Coins Depicting Beards!

Here's one of my favorites from the classic US commemorative coin series - the 1937 Roanoke Colony Memorial half dollar.

On its obverse is a left-facing portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh with his mustache and beard on full display; the reverse presents a standing Elinor Dare holding her new-born baby, Virginia. The coin was issued in "commemoration of the three hundredth and fiftieth anniversary of Sir Walter Raleigh's colony on Roanoke Island, North Carolina, known in history as the Lost Colony, and the birth of Virginia Dare, the first child of English parentage to be born on the American continent." (From Public Law 74-790, the coin's authorizing legislation).

The coin was designed by Baltimore-based artist William Marks Simpson; Simpson also created the designs for the 1936 Norfolk Bicentennial/Tricentennial half dollar (with his wife, Marjorie Emory Simpson) and the 1937 Battle of Antietam 75th Anniversary half dollar.

Sir Walter Raleigh



1937 Roanoke Colony Memorial Half Dollar





I have made several posts about the Roanoke half dollar, you can check them out here: Read More: Commems Collection

1976 Republique Française
50 Francs.

1984 Greece.
20 Drachmes new lettering.

The 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary of New York commemorative half dollar comes to mind as another. It features a portrait of William the Silent wearing a Ruff Collar.

By coincidence, I was in the midst of preparing a post about the coin for this "Beards" thread when I saw your question.

Be on the look-out for my Huguenot-Walloon post coming soon to a CCF near you!

Two heads, two beards - a barber's delight!

The 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary of New York commemorative half dollar includes two portraits on its obverse side: Admiral Gaspard de Coligny of France and William the Silent (aka William the Orange) of Netherlands. On the coin, each of the men is depicted with a full beard.

Admiral Gaspard de Coligny

(Original engraving dates to 1579; Public Domain)

William the Silent

(Original engraving dates to 1897; Public Domain)


The coin was issued to commemorate "the three hundredth anniversary of the settling of New Netherland, the Middle States, in 1624, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots, under the Dutch West India Company." (From Public Law 77-440, the authorizing legislation for the coin.)

The front-most portrait on the coin is that of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Though he never ventured to America, the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission believed him appropriate for the coin: "As early as 1562, Admiral Coligny of France made an attempt to gain a foothold in America, and provide thereby a refuge for his fellow "heretics" whose long decades of martyrdom he foresaw only too clearly."

Similarly, William the Silent never set foot in the New World, but the Commission described him as a "protagonist of colonization" and considered him "the champion and protector of the Huguenots" and noted that he "pointed the way which was so successfully followed by his countrymen later on..." William led the revolt against the Spainish that ultimately led to the formation of the Dutch Republic, a predecessor of today's Kingdom of the Netherlands.

So, from the Commission's perspective, Coligny and William were the inspirational catalysts for the later Huguenot involvement in the New Netherland colonization and therefore worthy of being remembered on their coin.

1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary of New York Half Dollar





For more on this coin, check out 1924 Huguenot-Walloon 300th and Huguenot-Walloon 300th - Revisited.


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

1968 Greece.
10 Drachmai - Constantine II.

1983 Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
20 centavos.