Top 10 Commemorative Coins

#2: 1935 Hudson Sesquicentennial Half Dollar

Struck to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of Hudson, NY ... this coin commemorates an event of purely local interest.

The Hudson half dollar contains IMHO the funkiest design ever placed on a USA coin. Chester Beach (designer of several other classic commemorative as well) must still be laughing at what he got away with.

The obverse shows Henry Hudson's ship Half Moon sailing on the seas. Chester Beach used a stylized quarter moon to signify the ships name ... apparently unaware that it was not a half moon.

The obverse is based on the seal of the City of Hudson ... showing Neptune riding a spouting whale backwards while a mermaid blows into a conch shell.

Take another look at the Half Moon ... I claim that (with a little imagination) you can see that the stern rigging of the ship is actually the whales tail (which is cut off on the reverse of the coin).

Indeed .... Chester Beach had some fun with this issue ... and today it is a prized and rare example of the classic US silver set.

Net mintage was 10,008 coins ... making the Hudson one of the three classic silver type coins with only 10,000 minted ... the other two being of course the 1928 Hawaiian half and the 1935 Spanish Trail half.

Original distribution of the Hudson caused an uproar in the numismatic community. It was intended that sales commence on June 28, 1935 at the price of $1.00 plus 21 cents shipping and handling ... but only 6 days later the distribution agency (through John R. Evans) claimed the entire allotment had been sold out. Hardly any contemporary collectors had even placed orders by time the 'sold out' notice was made.

What happened in fact is that Evans sold 8500 of the total 10,000 to two well heeled dealers at 95 cents each... and the coins were suddenly on the market for $5 to $7 ... causing much angst at the time.

That issue notwithstanding ... today the Hudson half is cherised member of the classic US silver set ... and my #2 all-time favorite.

Current Numismedia FMV for an MS66 Husdon is $2,720.

Here is my PCGS MS66/CAC Hudson half:



David

My top choice for a commemorative comes from the year 1921. Most all US coins minted in 1921 are rare with series keys for the Peace dollar, Walking Liberty half, Standing Liberty quarter, Mercury dimes, one of the Buffalo nickles and the only gold coin minted this year the Saint-Gaudens double eagle. Try to acquire any of these in mint state will set you back conservatively several thousands of dollars.

Two commemorative halves were issued during 1921, the Missouri Centennial and the Alabama Centennial. You can add up both of these coins mintages together and you still have less than half of the mintage of any of these key rarities, yet a mint state example will set you back hundreds of dollars instead of thousands.

My (current) favorite commemorative

1921 Missouri Centennial.

#1: Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollars

C'mon ... you knew I was going here ... right?

Considered by many ... myself included ... to be the finest design of any USA commemorative, this coin IMHO has a deserved seat in the debate for most inspired design of any USA coinage.

The designers of the Oregon Trail half dollar were the husband/wife team of James Earle Fraser and Laura Gardin Fraser ...

James created the side with the Conestoga wagon trekking westward towards the setting sun ... Laura designed the side with the American Indian native portrayed as as suggesting the wagons stop the trek.

Both of these early 20th century USA coin artists also have other claims to fame ... James for his design of the Buffalo nickel and Huguenot-Walloon half ... and Laura for her design of the 1921 Alabama half and the 1922 Grant half.

Laura Gardin Fraser was by 1926 (year of original issue for the Oregon Trail) the grand dame of USA commemorative design.

Here is a fun fact regarding Ms. Fraser work ... she was the winner of the 1931 competition to design a commemorative quarter in honor of George Washington. Then-Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon rejected her winning design in favor of a design by New York sculptor John Flanagan ... which went on to become the 1932 Washington quarter ... which out-lived it's intended 1 year commemorative status and survives to this day!

Commemorative fans were pleased to see justice served when Ms. Fraser original 1931 design for the quarter was minted in 1999 as a $5 gold commemorative in honor of the bicentennial of Washington's death. Find a photo of the $5 gold coin ... note that should have been the quarter in your pocket since 1932.

Anyways ... back to the Oregon Trail half ...

Minted from 1926 through 1939 ... there are fourteen separate date/mm combinations of the Oregon Trail available. Many collectors aspire to acquire the entire 14 coin set as a specialty within the classic US silver set.

Net mintage of the entire 14-coin set is 202,928 coins ... the vast majority of which were issued in the first year (1926) ... with that date accounting for 131,010 pieces.

Original 1926 issue price was $1 ... which increased to $2 in later years as the promoters tried to create a sense of rarity in the later dated issues.

I have four Oregon Trail halves ... two MS and two circulated. Still looking for a truly well circulated example. Let me know if you find one!

Here is my PCGS MS67/CAC 1938-D Oregon Trail. Net mintage of 6,005 coins. Numismedia current FMV is $720.



This thread has been great fun ... Thanks to GR58 for the idea ... and to all of you for your beautiful and inspiring contributions.

David

I hope everyone enjoyed seeing all the nice commemorative coins that everyone posted ... I know I did.

Thank you all for sharing.


For my number one coin ... I could not decide.
The reason is I have two coins that fill the same criteria
for being my favorite. Both of these coins I have been wanting a long time, I have just been waiting for them to come along at a good price. I have seen them online but recently both came to me from local sources at a very good price.

So my tied for first place in are two coins from the 1996 Olympic series, one has the lowest mintage the other is the highest price of all the modern commemorative silver dollars.

Lowest mintage is
1996 D UNC XXVI Olympiad, Paralympics (wheelchair)
mintage 14,497

Highest priced is
1996 D UNC XXVI Olympiad High Jump
mintage 15,697













Tried to take a group pic of my favorite 10 or 12 .. but lighting and photo taking skills are not that good
this is best I could get