Though he did not attend the Gadsden Purchase coin Hearing in person, L W Hoffecker, El Paso, Texas coin dealer and Chairman of the Gadsden Coin Committee, provided a letter to "answer the objections of the Treasury" to the coin. It was presented at the House Committee's Hearing by Representative Luther Alexander Johnson (D-TX).
In the letter, Hoffecker states:
"Mr. Mellon's list of the number of coins returned from the different issues has no bearing on our case whatever. I will personally guarantee to deliver the whole amount of money asked for the coins at any time the department asks for it and will promise that none will be returned. You will notice that Mr. Mellon has left the Hawaiian coin off his list, that being the only one that is a parallel case with ours. They asked for 10,000 and sold them all within 60 days at $2, and there are none to be had at less than $7.50 at this time and they are quoted as high as $10."
These guarantees were an important "positive" for the Committee and, ultimately, members of the House and Senate as each chamber passed the bill on the Committee's recommendation.
Hoffecker's letter continued:
"I have orders already for 2,000 and have not advertised them at all.
"President Hoover stated to our committee while they were in Washington that he wished this event to be fittingly celebrated, and if we can not obtain this coin we will have no way way of raising the money, as it is impossible to see all the people in this territory to solicit funds for same, and as this is a national event the coin will distribute the expense all over the United States, and any purchaser can double his money in three months, as there are over 20,000 coin collectors in the United States and there will be a great demand for for the coins. Many collectors have not been able to get any of the Hawaiian coins at all."To me, Hoffecker's plea reeks of desperation, including his thinly-veiled threat of disappointing President Hoover if the coin bill was not passed. I believe it also exposes Hoffecker's true motives: he wanted a coin to promote and profit from, the Gadsden Purchase anniversary was just a convenient vehicle. If the Purchase was truly important to Hoffecker, he should have been willing to seek alternative funds for its commemoration vs. the "coin or nothing" tact he presented.
Of course, the Gadsden Purchase coin was not to be as it was ultimately vetoed by President Hoover - the first US commemorative coin proposal to be so. I guess Hoover was able to manage his disappointment! Hoffecker would return in a few years with the "Old Spanish Trail" Half Dollar - an unfortunate story I've covered in other posts.
Preliminary Designs for Gadsden Purchase Anniversary Half Dollar
(Image Credit: Superior Galleries, L. W. Hoffecker Collection auction catalog, February 1987. Fair use, education.)For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including other What If? stories, see:
Commems Collection
Posted 06/18/2023 09:32 am
