In January 1939, Representative James Andrew Shanley (D-CT) introduced a trio of essentially identical bills that called for commemorative half dollars to recognize three towns in Connecticut. The first called for a coin for Guilford, CT, the second for Milford, CT and the third for Branford, CT. The text of each bill included "in commemoration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the founding of the town of [INSERT TOWN NAME] ([INSERT TOWN NAME] Tercentenary)," The bills faced a steep up hill battle for passage as Congress was not looking favorably at commemorative coin proposals at the time.
The bills called for a very limited mintage of just 5,000 coins each. They each featured the provisions established by the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency a few years earlier; namely, use of a single Mint facility, a specific date ("1939") to be placed on the coins and an expiration date of one year post enactment of the bill. The Guilford Tercentenary Commemorative Coin Association was listed as the sponsor for each of the three coins. I can't help but wonder if the Association would have requested that each town's coin be struck in a different Mint facility, thus creating a "Connecticut Towns Tercentenary" P/D/S Set? In any case, if any/all of the coin(s) had been approved with a mintage of just 5,000, it/they would have become the "key" type coin(s) within the series, with a mintage of just one-half the established key coins (1928 Hawaiian, 1935 Hudson, NY and 1935 Old Spanish Trail) which each had a mintage of 10,000.
The background history of Guilford, Milford and Branford is interesting. The three towns are neighbors on the Connecticut coast just a few miles east of New Haven (the State's third largest city) -
see location correction below. Each is the result of English settlers coming to the area, with Guilford and Milford each tracing its roots to a land purchase from local Native Americans in 1639, while the history of Branford stretches back one year further to a land purchase in 1638. The three tracts of land in question were each purchased from a different group of Native Americans: Sagamore, Paugusset and Mattabesech, respectively.
As would be expected for the time, none of the bills gained a foothold in Congress. Each was referred to the House Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures upon its introduction and was never heard from again.
I've posted before about a potential coin for Hartford, CT's 300th anniversary, you can find it here:
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What If? 1936 Hartford, CT TercentenaryFor other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 04/26/2022 10:23 am
