In June of 1955, Representative Herbert Covington Bonner (D-NC) introduced a bill that called for a special half dollar to mark the 250th anniversary of Bath, the first incorporated town in the colony of North Carolina. Bath, NC is located on the Pamlico River in Beaufort County in eastern NC; it was incorporated on March 8, 1705.
Many recognize Bath as the town in which the infamous pirate Blackbeard briefly resided in 1718. The town has a far richer history, however. It was NC's first colonial capital, and among the first five colonial NC ports of entry to be created; ports of entry were a place where inbound ship's could be checked by local authorities and cargo taxes/fees paid. Bath was also the location of NC's first shipyard and its first public library. St. Thomas Episcopal Church has been holding services in its current home since it was built in Bath in 1734; the building is the oldest church building in NC.
While the bill did not specifically state that the coin was to be struck for circulation, it lacked the key elements/language that would have indicated a sponsored, limited-edition souvenir coinage. The bill left it to the Secretary of the Treasury to determine the number of coins to be struck, as well as to decide where, when and for how long the coins would be struck. It also gave the Secretary independent control over the coin's design. Lastly, the bill did not include any reference to a sponsor who could purchase the coins at par value and then sell them at a price it desired to help finance a celebration or for some other commemorative purpose. I initially thought that the vagueness of the bill's language might be attributable to that of a first-term Representative, but a quick check of Congressional records revealed that Bonner had been serving in the House since 1939 and had certainly been exposed to commemorative coin legislation before - he should have known better!
The bill was referred to the House's Committee on Banking and Currency upon its introduction, and died there for lack of action (i.e., it was never reported out). If it had moved forward, its language most assuredly would have undergone significant revisions to limit the coin's mintage, restrict the mints where it could be struck and define a time period for its release - such parameters for proposed commemorative coins had been in place since the 1930s and there's no reason to believe that they would not have been applied in 1955.
It's hard to imagine a new circulating half dollar coin would be proposed in 1955 to replace the
Franklin half dollar, considering the Franklin coin had been introduced into circulation in 1948 - just seven years earlier, but anything is possible. The bill
did not include language indicating that the new coin was to replace an existing coin, however, so it seems more likely that it was just a case of a sloppily-written commemorative coin bill being introduced to appease local constituents/sponsors, and that its shortcomings were quickly exposed before it was brushed aside.
If the bill, as written, had been passed by Congress and approved by the President, the average "person on the street" would have likely had to deal with three different half dollar coins in his/her pocket or purse: the previous Walking Liberty design that was still in circulation, the current Franklin and the new Bath! It doesn't seem like it would have been too big of a deal, however, considering how much of a non-issue it has been with all of the different designs used on the Statehood/Territorial and
America the Beautiful Quarters that have been in circulation since 1998. Right now, there are more than 100 quarter designs in circulation and the American public seems to be handling it just fine!
I do wonder, however, if the coin had been approved, if it would have featured Blackbeard as part of its design. If it did, it would be the only US coin to depict an actual pirate!
Read More: Commems Collection
Posted 01/06/2021 5:07 pm
