I've mentioned previously that the Act authorizing the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial Half Dollar had a five-year expiration term. As the authorizing legislation for the coin was signed into law on August 7, 1946 by President Harry S. Truman, its coining authority officially came to an end on August 6, 1951.
After the program concluded, Sydney J. Phillips, president of the Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial, looked back and reflected upon what his group - and coin - accomplished over the previous five years:
Over the course of its five-year run, the Memorial had been able to sell ~1.3 million coins (additional sales were to follow!);
the BTW plantation upon which BTW was born and the then-current headquarters of the Memorial was located, had been improved in value by over $150,000 via added building, road construction, landscaping, etc.;
the BTW plantation had developed into the "thriving community" of Booker T Washington Birthplace, Virginia;
a small Post Office had been established at the site;
a trade school had been established and had already graduated 200 mechanics and technicians (400 more were reported as still engaged in training courses);
a nationwide Community Service Program had been established;
an educational program regarding racial understanding based on the teachings of BTW had been instituted;
assistance had been given to help secure legislation in the US Congress in support of the George Washington Carver National Monument at Carver's birthplace in Missouri.
Phillips also announced that the Memorial had arranged for 1,000,000 coins to be held by banks past the program's expiration date and that they would be available for just $0.60 each when purchased in groups of 10 or more; single coins were to continue to be available at $1.00 each.
(Note: the BTW Coin Act's expiration date referred to the striking of the coins, not their selling - but that didn't need to be publicized!) These coins enabled the program to sell ~275,000 additional coins beyond Phillips' initial announcement; final sales/distribution for the program (all years combined) was ~1.574 million coins.
As Phillips reflected upon the BTW coin program, it should be realized that he was also hard at work on a plan to convert unsold/not-yet-minted BTW half dollars into coins for a new BTW-George Washington Carver commemorative half dollar program. An Act for the BTW-GWC coins was approved on September 21, 1951 - just a few short weeks later!
1946-51 Booker T. Washington Birthplace Memorial Half Dollar
For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the BTW half dollars, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 06/19/2023 10:33 am
