The year 1936 offers an interesting dichotomy within the classic series of US commemorative coins. On one hand, it is a year that featured the exploitive issue of 31 different coins (if mint marks are considered separately), while, on the other, it was the year that marked the beginning of the efforts to reel in the rampant abuses that had become the norm for the series.
Prior to 1936 (and early in 1936), commemorative coin bills introduced in Congress were generally open-ended in terms of how many mints could strike the coins, in what years the coins could be struck and for how long the coins would be available to their sponsors for ordering. Such open-endedness gave rise to the multi-year, multi-mint programs promoted/distributed by the Oregon Trail Memorial Association, the Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission, the Arkansas Statehood Centennial Commission and the Texas Centennial Committee. It also gave rise to the P-D-S sets for the Cincinnati Music Center and Columbia, SC Sesquicentennial coins.
The world of US commemorative coinage changed, however, with the approval of the 1936 Long Island, NY Tercentenary half dollar. It specified that the coins it authorized could only be struck at a single mint, were required to bear the date "1936" and that the coin could only be available for ordering from the Mint (by coin's the sponsor - not the public) for a period of one year. The Long Island bill was signed into law on April 13, 1936.
A plethora of commemorative coin bills came after it in 1936, but, fortunately, were all (almost!) brought into line with the restrictions incorporated in the Long Island half dollar Act and placed similar restrictions on the coins they authorized. One exception was Bridgeport, CT Centennial bill. While it did restrict the coins to being struck at a single mint, and required all coins struck to be dated "1936", it did not incorporate an expiration date for the striking. Theoretically, the Bridgeport coins could have been struck in multiple years, if such orders had been placed.
So, even though the restrictions discussed here were "forgotten" in the bills for the Booker T. Washington Memorial and George Washington Carver-Booker T. Washington coin programs, the coinage restrictions put in place with the 1936 Long Island Tercentenary commemorative half dollars did begin to alter the model for US commemorative coins, and begin to make their distribution/availability a bit more collector-friendly.
1936 Long Island, NY Tercentenary Half Dollar
For other of my posts on the incorporation of minting restrictions in US commemorative coin bills, see:
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1936 Long Island Tercentenary - House Vs. Senate-
1936 Gettysburg Half Dollar - House Vs. Senate-
1936 Delaware Tercentenary - Senate V. Senate V. HouseFor other of my posts about classic US commemorative coins (plus other commemorative topics), check out:
Commems Collection
Posted 11/14/2021 4:12 pm
