Commems Collection Classic: 1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial - Special Airmail Delivery!

Here'a a quick story about the 1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial Half Dollars that I find particularly interesting...

On Saturday, August 1, 1925, Lieutenant Oakley G. Kelly took off from Pearson Field in Vancouver, WA at 5:15 am and headed to Crissy Field in San Francisco, CA. His mission? Pick up the freshly-minted Fort Vancouver half dollars and return them to Vancouver - on the same day - to ensure their availability at the opening of the Fort Vancouver Exposition. As the celebration did not open in Vancouver until Monday, August 17, 1925, the specially-chartered, same-day Vancouver-San Francisco-Vancouver flight was more of a well-orchestrated publicity stunt than a need-based pickup and delivery trip.

Side Note: Kelly was also the pilot of the plane that brought Washington Governor, Roland Hill Hartley to the Vancouver Centennial celebration on August 17.

Lieutenant Oakley G. Kelly, Circa Early 1920s

(Image Credit: Courtesy of Wright State University Libraries Special Collections and Archives. Fair Use.)

Lieutenant Kelly was reported to have been accompanied on the trip by Donald J. Sterling, the Managing Editor of the Oakland Journal, of Portland Oregon. The flight made one stop in each direction at Eugene, OR for fuel. He arrived back in Vancouver at 6:15PM - about 13 hours after departing. The round trip was ~1,100 miles.

Note: Published news accounts of the day listed a variety of counts for the number of coins picked up by Lieutenant Kelly. I've seen reports of 500 coins, 600+ coins and 50,000 coins. I believe the 50,000 number is the correct one for two reasons: 1) The San Francisco Mint struck 50,000 Fort Vancouver Centennial half dollars in July (mistakenly, without a mint mark). so it makes sense that they would all be picked up and transported together, and 2) a weight of 1,462 pounds was reported in the American Numismatic Association's The Numismatist magazine as the weight of the plane's coin cargo - 1,462 pounds advp is in the ballpark for 50,000 12.5 gram coins (~1,378 pounds advp) and likely hits the target once the weight of the shipping cases for the coins is included.

Many different promotional tactics were used by commemorative coin sponsors over the years, but the "same day" delivery promotion for the Vancouver coins ranks among the most innovative (IMO).

1925 Fort Vancouver Centennial Half Dollar



For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the history of the Fort Vancouver Centennial half dollar, see: Commems Collection.