Several dozen moons ago, in May 2022, I posted an "Origin Story" about the 1892-93 World's Columbian Exposition Half Dollars. (You can read it here:
1892-93 Columbian Exposition - Origin Story.)
In that post, I briefly mentioned a bill introduced by William Leake Terry (D-AR) in the House of Representatives that called for up to 10 million souvenir half dollars for the World's Columbian Exposition ("Exposition"). I've decided to take a bit of a deeper dive into the bill, as I believe it has a few interesting aspects.
The first of its provisions that would be considered "Unusual" in later years of the US commemorative coin program (and today), was "That upon presentation of the silver bullion requisite for that purpose the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and directed to coin the same into souvenir silver half-dollar coins." In other words, the Exposition needed to supply the silver required to strike the number of coins it desired. Whether the silver was purchased by the Exposition on the open market or through the US Treasury Department did not matter, what did was the fact that without providing the necessary silver up front, the Exposition could not have its coins struck. As no specifics were included in the bill as to the form or fineness the bullion was to take, I can imagine potential deliveries consisting of a mix of silver coins (from the US and other nations), silver bars and possibly even silverware, platters, vases, candlesticks, etc.
The bill ensured that the souvenir coins would be easily recognizable as legal United States coins, while also being appropriate for their intended purpose. The bill stated that the coins were "to be of such design and stamped and engraved with such inscriptions and devices as will designate their value as coins of the United States, and also make them suitable souvenirs of the celebration of the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus." Such requirements seem obvious today, but, in 1892, there weren't any precedents to fall back upon and so such details needed to be made clear. .Also, the language made it clear that the souvenir pieces were to be coins, not medals.
It's also interesting to note, that the bill stated "Said coinage shall be free of any seigniorage to the Government or cost of mintage." This suggests that the coins would be turned over to the Exposition without charge; the Exposition's costs were tied to the silver bullion it purchased/provided. This would have given significant flexibility to the Exposition in terms of what it could charge for the souvenir pieces to make a desired profit - the issue price might have been less or more than what was charged for the half dollar coins that were ultimately received.
The bill authorized the Mint to strike the coins "from time to time" when the necessary silver was provided by the Exposition, up to 10 million coins in total. (The bill that was authorized and became Public Law for the coins capped coin production at 5 million half dollars. More potential coins for the Exposition! We'll overlook the fact that it wasn't able to sell out of the lower mintage and had to release coins into circulation to help pay its debts.)
The bill was referred to the Select Committee on the Columbian Exposition, but went no further - it was superseded by the bill that went on to become Public Law.
1892 World's Columbian Exposition Half Dollar - Christopher Columbus
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other stories about the Columbian half dollar, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 05/11/2025 5:09 pm
