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My first Classic Commemorative

Started by Merlin8*,

11 posts in this topic

Merlin8*

Merlin8*

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Posted

The 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary silver half dollar

 

Hello Friends,

 

This commemorative has been high on my want list for the representation of my ancestor William Bradford on the obverse but the Mayflower on the reverse of this coin compelled me to buy if for my custom set called "My Heritage Set". It's a very nice example with wonderful purple toning on the reverse that I especially like. There are some contact marks to the obverse on the hat and cheek but I'm still very pleased with it and at $100 thought I got a good price for a MS63 example.

 

The 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary silver half dollar commemorates the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower at Plymouth in 1620. This was the first commemorative minted in multiple years and it was hoped the increased mintage would help defray cost associated with many of the celebrations planned around Plymouth and Boston at the time. After much hype sales lagged and many 1920 coins were melted to produce the 1921 coins. Many coins of both dates remained unsold and were eventually returned setting the mintage of the 1920 issue at 152,000 and the 1921 at 20,000.

 

The obverse representation of Bradford supposedly holding his bible would be the only such representation of a bible on an American coin and most experts believe it represents his journal "Of Plymouth Plantation" which today is considered by many scholars as one of the seminal literary works in American history. The Journal was taken from the Old South Meeting House in Boston during the Revolutionary War back to England by a British soldier and lost for a time until it was rediscovered in the library of the Bishop of London and after petitioning the church for many years it was finally returned to Massachusetts in 1897. William Bradford served the Plymouth Colony as the 2nd, 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th Governor from 1621 to 1657 and is credited with being the first civil authority in the new world to designate a day of thanksgiving we know today as Thanksgiving Day. He is also reported as being among the first group of volunteers to go ashore to help locate a permanent site for the settlement which they named Plymouth in honor of the last place they left in England. Tragically during that first winter when returning to the ship from a trip ashore he found that his wife Dorothy May had fallen over board and drowned.

 

The reverse exhibits toning under the ship that seems to animate the heavy sea around the Mayflower creating a wonderful effect. William Bradford had set sail from Holland with the Separatists aboard the Speedwell and when meeting the Mayflower at sea she was leaking badly and it was felt could not make the journey. So the Speedwell's passengers moved to the Mayflower and joined the 50 colonists many indentured to the investors as Merchant Adventurers recruited to help establish the new settlement in Virginia. At that time there were 102 passengers on the Mayflower and of those 35 were my ancestors. Among those 35 individuals was Stephen Hopkins who survived the shipwreck of the Virginia Company ship Sea Venture on the reefs off Bermuda in 1607 and arrived in Jamestown sometime in 1609. He was the only colonists to have been in the New World before and was later an assistant to William Bradford during one of his terms as Governor. The Mayflower originally had negotiated permission to settle the northern part of the Colony of Virginia but after several attempts to sail south they were driven north by storm to the hook at Cape Cod.

 

As research identifies and my finances allow I plan to continue searching for classic commemoratives I can attribute in this way. It's a wonderful twist to my coin collecting and gives me the opportunity to combine two of my favorite pastimes, genealogy and numismatics.

 

I have attached a photo with a quote from William Bradford's journal were the term "Pilgrim" is used for the first time upon leaving for the New World.

 

Happy collecting,

 

Larry

13155.jpg

 

See more journals by Merlin8*

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coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Larry,

 

Agreed. Like the coin, but like the presentation just as much. Great job!

 

Todd

 

+1 Larry the presentation is outstanding! However just as fine is your narrative, and your Heritage custom set. Great post and excellent set!

Gary

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Merlin8*

Merlin8*

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Thanks for the kind words and comments everyone. I really enjoy putting these together and I have great role models here at the CS to emulate.

 

Thanks again,

 

Larry

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coin928

coin928

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Hi Larry,

 

I'm a little late, but I just now had the opportunity to read your description and view your presentation. . You did a great job on both. All coins are so much more interesting when you know the history behind them. I look forward to reading about your next acquisition!

 

Harry

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