Collecting Classic Silver Commemorative Coinage (1892-1954)

NGC - A look at this often-underrated yet highly interesting series by Jeff Garrett.

For anyone looking for value when trying to decide what to collect, United States commemorative coinage is a great place to start. The series has been one of the biggest laggards in the last decade in relation to other areas of the market. Many coins in this series are also among the largest percentage losers from the highs of 1989 to 1990. A few years after third-party certification took hold, many areas of the market exploded, with commemoratives leading the way. In the summer of 1989, an NGC MS 65 1892 Columbian Half Dollar sold for $5,000. Today, an attractive example can be found for about $350. Walking Liberty half dollars and proof Type coins were also in the stratosphere before crashing a few years later.

The "classic series" of United States commemorative coinage began in 1892 when 950,000 half dollars were distributed and sold to help finance the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois. The World's Columbian Exposition was a seminal event for the United States. Our country was determined to outdo the French who had conducted a spectacular exposition a few years earlier. The Columbian World's Fair was a smashing success with nearly 26,000,000 visitors. This was at a time when the entire population of the United States stood at around 65,000,000. A number of American innovations made their first appearance at the Chicago Exposition, including Juicy Fruit gum, phosphorescent lamps and the Ferris Wheel.

The concept of creating commemorative coinage to finance a variety of causes was firmly established. Over the next 62 years the United States produced 50 different issues of silver commemorative coinage. The last issues of the Classic Commemoratives were the Carver / Washington series struck from 1951 to 1954. Coins were struck to commemorate or raise funds for a wide variety of celebrations. A few of the latter issues were clearly produced for profit, with questionable ties to historic events. Quite a few were flops after being produced and many ended up in the melting pots. This latter category is now among the rarest and most desirable issues, including the Hudson and Spanish Trail Commemoratives.

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