The Twelve C.smith So Called Half Dollars 1947 & 1948 Designs

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TNG Bedrock of the Community United States 10284 Posts	Posted 09/15/2018 8:33 pm I cannot find out anything about this c.smith person. The only place that I have found that comes close to listing info these is on the NGC site. Not much there except they are listed. These fascinated me and I have found and collected two sets of 1947 (8) medals, and a set of 1948 (4) that are related to the 1898 Spanish American war. The first 8 are sometimes found in Mehgrig album pages and the page is labeled for what they are. Here's the checklists 1947 and 1948 c.smith so-called half dollar checklist 1947 C.SMITH PONY EXPRESS DIAMOND JUBILEE 1860-1935 1947 C.SMITH BATTLE OF LEXINGTON 150th 1775-1925 1947 C.SMITH DANIEL BOONE - LEXINGTON 1775-1925 1947 C.SMITH LINDBERGH - NY TO PARIS 1927 Has been also seen gilt or in bronze. 1947 C.SMITH R. BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1928-1930 Has been also seen gilt 1947 C.SMITH T. EDISON CENTENNIAL 1847-1947 seen in bronze and gilt, also with numerous reverses 1947 C.SMITH ROBERT E. LEE - CSA 1807-1870 1947 C.SMITH CONFEDERATE SEAL 1862 1948 C.SMITH BATTLESHIP MAINE 1898-1948 1948 C.SMITH ADMIRAL GEORGE DEWEY 1898-1948 1948 C.SMITH T.ROOSEVELT/SAN JUAN HILL 1898-1948 1948 C.SMITH ADMIRAL WILLIAM T.SAMPSON 1898-1948 (I have one that appears gold plated as well) 1947 1948 I imagine these are all of a nickel composition which are considered to be the "c.smith so-called half dollars", the others in bronze and those that may be gold plated look exactly the same as those above, but some outfit must have bought up surplus medals or dies and made the variants. I am now in quest of finding others in bronze etc. This latest purchase of three, The Byrd, Lindbergh, and Edison prompted me to make this post. Any information on these or c.smith is very welcome. Here are my four variants in gilt or bronze. (better images will appear after these come in the mail) This gold looking Sampson I already have in hand. Edited by TNG 09/15/2018 9:24 pm Report this Post to the Staff

commems CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives United States 12258 Posts	Posted 09/15/2018 10:14 pm @TNG: Great looking set - congrats on assembling such a nice collection of these medals! I can add a little bit on C. Smith and his medals. Charles E. Smith was a Boston coin dealer. I don't believe he was a big dealer or a "market maker" as I've not seen ads of his in the primary numismatic publication of the time - the ANA's The Numismatist. (This is just conjecture on my part, however.) At the time Smith's medals were issued, the US Congress was putting the brakes on US commemorative half dollar coins. Smith may have believed he could fill a void in the marketplace by creating commemorative medals that were roughly the same size; Smith's medals were slightly larger at 32 mm in diameter to avoid running afoul of the US Government. You mentioned that the 1947 issues can "sometimes be found in Mehgrig album pages." At the time of issue, Smith contracted with Wayte Raymond, the originator of such boards, to create a page for the eight-piece set and to use "So-Called Half Dollars" as the title for it. Mehgrig may have reprinted the board after the original Wayte Raymond supply was sold out; they did so with many of the other Wayte Raymond pages. In the 1960s, Capital Plastics also produced three-piece plastic holders for these medals. The Battle of Lexington, the Daniel Boone, the Lindbergh, the Antarctic Expedition and the Pony Express pieces were all originally issued prior to 1947; Whitehead and Hoag re-struck these medals for Smith from the dies they had used in prior years. Hope that helps a little! Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved. Report this Post to the Staff
TNG Bedrock of the Community United States 10284 Posts	Posted 09/15/2018 11:07 pm commems, thank you so much for the time you took to write that thoughtful and informative post. It seems my search may go further for the very similar medals in the c.smith sets than I had thought. Great information. I hope this helps others too as the info is very scarce to nil from all I could tell. Oh and one more thing, I did mean to say Wayte Raymond not Mehgrig as you have caught that. I have seen maybe a dozen or so filled or partially filled Wayte Raymond album pages over the past couple years. Usually the Confederates are missing in partial sets. Edited by TNG 09/15/2018 11:11 pm Report this Post to the Staff
jbuck Moderator United States 187862 Posts	Posted 09/16/2018 12:14 am Great set, TNG, and wonderful information, commems. Coin Collector Since 1978 Avatar Old Avatar 7070 Eisenhower Australia Canada World CCF Members on eBay CCF eBay Search Engine Report this Post to the Staff
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