Sealed the deal on this example:
A little history behind the 1925 Ft. Vancouver Half Dollar:Approved by Congress on February 24, 1925 and issued in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Fort Vancouver by the Hudson Bay Company, State of Washington.
300,000 authorized with 50,028 pieces coined at the San Francisco Mint with 28 pieces reserved for annual assay, 35,000 melted. Initial sketches by John T. Urquhart and model by Sidney Bell.
Laura Gardin Fraser finished the sketches and approved model. Issued by the Fort Vancouver Centennial Corporation, Herbert J. Campbell, president, at $1 apiece.
Design:Obverse: Bust of Dr. John McLoughlin, builder of Fort Vancouver, to left; below, DR. JOHN McLOUGHLIN; at top, around border, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; in field, 1825-1925, IN GOD WE TRUST; at bottom, around border, HALF DOLLAR.
Reverse: A frontiersman in buckskin suit, holding a gun, to right; in background, within a circle, the Fort and a mountain peak (Mt. Hood), at top, around border, FORT VANCOUVER CENTENNIAL; at bottom, around border, in small letters, VANCOUVER. WASHINGTON. FOUNDED. 1825 BY, in larger letters, HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY. Inside the circle near the stockade at right are the designer's initials, LGF.
Sidney Bell, a Portland artist, was selected to prepare designs for the half dollar. The portrait of McLoughlin was taken from a sketch by John T. Urquhart. The local committee liked Bell's work, but the Commission of Fine Arts rejected it as unsatisfactory.
Laura Gardin Fraser revised the motifs and completed the models from which dies were made.
They were distributed throughout Washington by the Fort Vancouver Centennial Corporation at one dollar each. The Act called for the minting of 300,000 coins, but the Mint struck only a fraction of this number.
Another outstanding feature is the missing "s" mint mark. Although coined in San Francisco, it is without mint mark through some oversight.
A celebration was held at Vancouver starting on August 17, 1925, which lasted a week. A feature of the event was a pageant, 'The Coming of the White Man,' based on historical facts, in which more than 300 persons took part. In addition, there was an industrial exhibit and various forms of amusement. Governor Hartley visited the celebration in an airplane and a banquet was given to the visiting notables.
Photograph of Dr. John McLoughlin. Courtesy C.L. Robinson Collection, Fort Vancouver Centennial Half Dollar, Washington State Library, (OColC) 325131859, MS 0153, 1970-1974, p. 14A.
Ulysses S. Grant at the time of his marriage to Julia Dent Grant in 1848. While at Fort Vancouver, Grant began growing the beard that would become one of his most defining physical characteristics. Courtesy National Park Service (NPS).
"The distribution of the Fort Vancouver commemorative half dollars was begun about August 1. This coin is one of several such issues recently authorized by Congress and commemorates the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Fort Vancouver by the Hudson Bay Company, in the State of Washington. A celebration of this centennial was held in August by the Fort Vancouver Centennial Corporation.
The coins show on the obverse old Fort Vancouver, and on the reverse Dr. John McLoughlin, (Numismatist's consider the McLoughlin side the obverse-LG) founder of the fort in 1825. The authorized number is 300,000, and 50,000 had been struck by August 1. A feature of the issue was the transportation by airplane of the coins from the San Francisco Mint to Vancouver by Lieut. Oakley G. Kelly, flight commander of Vancouver Barracks. He made the round trip in one day. His cargo of 50,000 coins weighed 1462 pounds.
"1"One of the commemorative coins authorized by Congress last spring was for the 100th anniversary of the building of Fort Vancouver, Wash. The distribution of the coins was begun about the middle of August with the beginning of the celebration at Vancouver on August 17, which lasted for one week. A feature of the event was a pageant, 'The coming of the White Man,' based on historical facts, in which more than 300 persons took part. In addition, there was an industrial exhibit and various forms of amusement. Governor Hartley visited the celebration in an airplane and a banquet was given to the visiting notables. . .
Mr. George A. Pipes, of Portland, Ore., a member of the A. N. A., has written for The Numismatist, an interesting sketch of Dr. McLoughlin and a history of the founding of Fort Vancouver, which is printed below: (story finished in Fort Vancouver Celebration Chapt.-LG)
"2
1 The Numismatist, Editorial Comment-Numismatic News, Fort Vancouver Half Dollars Being Distributed, September, 1925, p. 444-445.
2 The Numismatist, Fort Vancouver Half Dollar, October, 1925, p. 543.
Part of a collection of coins, tokens, paper money, etc., received from President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 29, 1941, Courtesy bequest of Franklin D. Roosevelt, FDR Library MO 1941-12-43-18.
Enjoy your coins.
Posted 02/19/2016 11:51 am
