Classic Commem Questions

[Weidel Legacy Collection]

I really like the classic commemeratives that the US mint produced prior to resurrecting the current commem program. To learn about them I've been reading what I can find on the web about the different issues that were produced and have followed David Lange's recommendations on purchasing commem-related books. Also, I have purchased some very nice specimans of different issues, but am taking my time to find nice coins while trying not to break the bank...but the better coins surely do not come cheap.

 

Here are my questions:

1. Obviously, there were different mintage quantities of each commem and, in the case where multiple years were minted, of each year. Also, in a number of cases unsold quantities were melted reducing the actual available final quantity. Is there somewhere that lists by original minted quantity, and by the actual final available quantity, each commem that was produced? I'm curious how the commems stack up when production quantities are the yardstick.

 

2. A number of commems entered circulation as legal coins thus reducing the actual uncirculated population - are there any guesses as to the actual extent of uncirculated commems by type and date that exist as a result? Also, which commems never entered circulation?

 

Just pondering...

 

 

 

[Hoot]

RWW - Bowers' book lists the total minted and the number recalled and melted. In the cases where the figures are uncertain, he provides reasonable estimates. Great book.

 

As for your second question, I have not found anything, but perhaps someone else has. I would think that's a toughie, since most of the circulated specimens will not surface in population reports, etc. Many pre-great depression commems were spent during the depression years.

 

Hoot

[gmarguli]

Which ones never entered circulation? Most have circulated examples available. Whether they were put there by the mint or collectors due to hard economic times, I do not know.

 

Based on what I remember seeing over the years:

 

The ones you rarely find circulated: New Rochelle (practically never circulated), Hawaiian, Elgin, Spanish Trail, Wisconsin, York, Cincinnati, Columbia, Texas, Delaware, Connecticut, & Bridgeport.

 

Harder to find circulated, but examples can be found: Arkansas, Boone, Robinson, & Albany.

 

Easier to find, but not common: Pilgrim & Vancouver.

 

Very common to find circulated: BTW, GWC, Columbian, Isabella, Sesquicentennial, Stone Mountain, Lafayette, Pan-Pac, & Alabama.

 

There is a book, which I can't come up with the name, that discussed the mint taking back all the unsold BTWs (& GWC?) and bagging them up and dumping them off at banks instead of striking new coins.

 

[BillJones]

I think net mintage figures (total struck less coins returned and melted) are available for all of the old commemoratives except the Booker T. Washington and Washington-Carver coins. The distributor of those got sloppy with the records, and no one really knows how many pieces were returned and melted by date and mint mark.

 

I'd add the Antietam to the list of pieces that are seldom seen in circulated condition. Also I don't think you will find many 1938 and '39 Oregon Trail coins in used condition although the ealier ones show up from time to time.

[braddick]

New Rochelle is the toughest, maybe because the issue price was so much.

I've only seen one- I'd grade it out as XF40. PCGS in their infinite wisdom gave it an AU55 grade. No luster, definite wear, but AU55.

[gmarguli]

Also I don't think you will find many 1938 and '39 Oregon Trail coins in used condition although the ealier ones show up from time to time.

 

I'd say this is true of the other commems where there are several date/mint marks with the latter ones having lower mintages. I assume only the true collectors purchased these and that's why so few entered circulation.

[Hoot]

Those commems issued in sets, like the 38 and 39 OTs are likely to show up less as circulated coins because, as you said, collectors were the primary purchasers.

 

Hoot

[michael]

bebee had many original bags of the btw wc commems this is where moat of them came from you see many with the same

mottled toning from being stored in these bags the bags were joslted around much and that is why many have the similar many bagmarks

 

bebee promoted these unwanted coins in the 1950's and 60's to many he was the all around main seller of these coins for many many years he got lots of original unwanted bags of these coins

in the 50's

 

sincerely michael

[Clankeye-migration]

Michael--

The history you mention of the BTW's and the Carvers... the story of how they were marketed... melted... promoted... that history is part of the reason I find the coins fascinating. Their pure numismatic history as a series. The history and individuals they commemorate, that is another thing. A very interesting and worthy history. But, in my appreciation of the coins, I can divide it right down the middle: interest in the subject matter, and interest in the strange and myriad ways they have been promoted and dispersed. And, I love it that most people seem to hate them. Especially coin dealers if you are offering them one.

 

Clankeye