Roanoke Island, NC Half Dollar

fine lookin Walt love it

Another lovely classic silver commemorative ... high MS indeed. I believe MS65 or better. I'll show a photo for your grading comparison shortly.

I recall recently replying to another thread with some fun facts on this coin ... this coin indeed has some very interesting historical facts ... please forgive me from re-typing ... much easier to copy and paste.

Original thread can be found here:

https://goccf.com/t/90528

In that thread I made the following comments which also apply to your lovely 1937 Roanoke Island Half Dollar ...

Not trying to bore anyone ... but a few more interesting tidbits about this particular coin ...

Sir Walter Raleigh as depicted on the obverse did not spell his last name that way ... the depiction on this coin is the "American" version as required by the authorizing legislation and the Commission of Fine Arts ... the official body that approved coinage design at the time.

The Baltimore MD sculptor of this coin ... William Marks Simpson (you can see his initials below the obverse bust truncation) ... originally spelled the name as Ralegh ... which based on historical records is the correct spelling.

The Commission of Fine Arts insisted on inserting the missing 'i' as this was the way the authorizing legislation was written ... so Mr. Simpson did so ... and today we have a coin with a name that the featured obverse subject never used.

Equally interesting is the reverse feature ... "The Birth of Virginia Dare" ...

Born on 08/18/1587 to Ananias and Ellinor Dare ... young Virginia was the first white child of European descent to be born in what is now the USA. The reverse of the coin depicts Ellinor holding Virginia as a baby.

For you grading comparison here is my PCGS MS66 CAC approved Roanoke Island Half Dollar ...



Best wishes on your grading submittals!

David

I am going to have to break down and quit buying car parts and buy one of these things because they have been on my buy list for awhile now just because I am from NC and want one of these in my 7070 album

@Bryan. I'm a displaced Tar Heel born and raised and had to have this one in my 7070 as well. Here's my Walt:

Mine's in the quarter slot also.... and my favorite bird is the cardinal (The State Bird of course)..

"A Toast" to North Carolina
by Leonora Martin and Mary Burke Kerr

Here's to the land of the long leaf pine,
The summer land where the sun doth shine,
Where the weak grow strong and the strong grow great,
Here's to "Down Home," the Old North State!

Here's to the land of the cotton bloom white,
Where the scuppernong perfumes the breeze at night,
Where the soft southern moss and jessamine mate,
'Neath the murmuring pines of the Old North State!

Here's to the land where the galax grows,
Where the rhododendron's rosette glows,
Where soars Mount Mitchell's summit great,
In the "Land of the Sky," in the Old North State!

Here's to the land where maidens are fair,
Where friends are true and cold hearts rare,
The near land, the dear land, whatever fate,
The blest land, the best land, the Old North State!