Were the Bicentennial quarter, half & dollar the first "circulating commems"?

[James_OldeTowne]

[Zoins]

I believe many pre-modern commem half dollars were circulated during the Depression.

[James_OldeTowne]

I should specify, commemorative coins minted with the intent to circulate them....

[Zoins]

It probably depends on your definition of "commemorative coin." The Lincoln cent was a commemoration of the birth of Lincoln, the Peace dollar was issued to commemorate the end of WWI and the Ike dollar reverse was a commemorative of the landing on the moon.

 

If you mean non-open ended types, then the Bicentennials are first I know of.

[okbustchaser]

I believe (I read it on the internet so it must be true ) that the Washington quarter was originally issued as a one year commemerative, but then the mint simply continued making them.

[Conder101]

Originally the Washington quarter was supposed to be a one year circulating commemorative. Other than that I would agree the bicentennials were the first, and in my opinion still the only circulating commemorative. I find it hard to see the state quarters as commemoratives.

[DC Dawg]

The depression was taking its toll on the nation. While the desperate economic times were gripping the nation, a severe drought created the Dust Bowl of the plains. In 1931, there was a concern that there needed to be something to lift the spirits of a hurting nation. With 1932 being the 200th birthday of George Washington, there was a feeling in congress that something should be done. So the Department of the Treasury proposed to issue a circulating commemorative half-dollar. Congress agreed and Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon worked with the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) and the Washington Bicentennial Commission to begin a design competion.

 

A restriction of the design competion was that the designs be based on the famous bust of Washington by Jean Antoine Houdon. During the competition, congress decided to change the denomination to the quarter under the assumption that more people would have access to quarters than half-dollars. But at the end of the competition, the CFA chose the design of Laura Gardin Fraser, medal designer and wife of James Earl Fraser. Secretary Mellon had his own ideas of artistic value which caused him to disagree with the CFA. Mellon asserted his authority and selected the work of John Flanagan for the design. Flanagan was noted for his period-style (e.g., bland) designs and being a student of Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

 

Following Mellon's selection of the Flanagan design, he went on to become ambassador to Great Brittan. His successor as Secretary of the Treasury was Ogden Mills. Mills was not interested in the design process although some were lobbying for a change. Flanagan noted that work had begun on the master dies and ordered that the Mint continue to plan to use the Flanagan design.

 

When the Washington quarter was issued in 1932, the coin was very well received by the public. With the letters and acclaim from the public, Mint Director Robert Grant impressed upon Secretary Mills to request that congress extend the one-year issue to be a regular issue. But it was the height of the depression, an election year, and the Democratic challenger, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was campaigning hard against the incumbent Herbert Hoover. Hoover was not interested in sponsoring "frivolous" legislation and ignored the requests from Grant and Mills. Hoover was being accused by the Roosevelt campaign that Hoover was allowing the country to slip deeper into the depression--Hoover did not want to give Roosevelt more fodder for the bitter campaign. In the end, Roosevelt won and Hoover became a very lame duck.

 

In 1933, it was the law that the president would not take the oath of office until March. From the November election until March, Hoover and the Roosevelt transition team did not communicate. Hoover was honorable in defeat and would have done anything to help the transition. But the lack of communication created real political gridlock. No bills were introduced and no laws were passed during that time. Statistically, it began the worst six months of the depression. It was this situation that prompted the passage of the 20th Amendment that changed the date of the presidential inauguration to January 20th.

 

Two weeks prior to his inauguration, FDR asked asked his old friend and Wall Street executive William Woodin, to be the Secretary of the Treasury and help implement a new monetary policy. Woodin rushed to Washington to work with Ogden Mills in order to understand the issues. On the day of FDR's inauguration, Mills resigned and voluntarily stayed to help Woodin with various policy changes. Woodin and Mills worked together on the gold recall and the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

 

The last bill that Mills helped Woodin author was the revamping of the monetary system that formally removed gold as the source to back US notes. The bill called for the backing of notes with silver (not silver coin) and for the issuing of Federal Reserve Notes at an amount calculated as to a percentage of the silver holdings. Also buried in that bill was the authorization for the Mint to continue to strike quarters with the Washington commemorative design. A third hand reference noted that Woodin thought it would save the costs of striking coins by not having to pay for a redesign.

 

The bill passed with an overwhelming majority of both houses and was signed by FDR. But the depression reduced the need for circulating coins and the Mint was operating at a lower capacity, minting mostly cents, to keep people employed. Coin production picked up in 1934 with the Washington Quarter Dollar as a regular issue coin.

 

It can be said that the 1932 Washington Quarter was the first coin minted as a circulating commemorative. Starting with 1934, the design was used as a regular issue.

 

Now you know the rest of the story!

 

Scott

[Tradedollarnut]

No - how about the CAL gold?

[James_OldeTowne]

No - how about the CAL gold?

Tradedollarnut, what did the CAL gold commemorate? I know nothing about it.

[DC Dawg]

No - how about the CAL gold?

Was California gold a product of the US Mint?

I believe California gold coins were products of private assayers. Gold rush coins minted at Philadelphia for distribution, primarily, in the west were regular issues coins using established designs (Liberty) for the purpose of promoting trade. They were not commemorative issues.

 

Scott

[TomB]

TDN is writing about the US Mint 1848 quarter eagle gold coinage that had "CAL" punched above the eagle on the reverse. These were prepared in this manner by the US Mint and something less than 1,400 pieces were minted and released into circulation.

[Zoins]

TDN is writing about the US Mint 1848 quarter eagle gold coinage that had "CAL" punched above the eagle on the reverse. These were prepared in this manner by the US Mint and something less than 1,400 pieces were minted and released into circulation.

What was the reason for the counterstamp?

[TomB]

Approximately 230-ounces of California mined gold was turned over to the Mint by the Military Governor of California, via the Secretary of War, and this material was used to produce the quarter eagles.

[Zoins]

Would it be safe to say the CAL counterstamp was a QA tracker like dates and mintmarks, and not a commemorative indicator?

[TomB]

I doubt it, since they were struck at the Philadelphia Mint with regular dies.

[Zoins]

I doubt it, since they were struck at the Philadelphia Mint with regular dies.

Are you saying not a commemorative or not a QA tracker ... or neither?

[TomB]

I wouldn't think it was a QA tracker since they would likely have known the metal was good because the balance of the gold provided went to the production Congressional medals authorized for General Zachary Taylor and General Winfield Scott.

[Conder101]

Very good point on the CAL quarter eagle, I'd forgotten about it. I'd say it has a very good claim to being the first.

[James_OldeTowne]

Very good point on the CAL quarter eagle, I'd forgotten about it. I'd say it has a very good claim to being the first.

Mike, was the CAL put there to actually commemorate something?

 

Also, I'm not so sure it should quality, since it wasn't really a change in design, was it? As a counterexample, the addition of the "P" mintmark to clad coinage in the early 1980s didn't commemorate anything.

[DC Dawg]

Approximately 230-ounces of California mined gold was turned over to the Mint by the Military Governor of California, via the Secretary of War, and this material was used to produce the quarter eagles.

 

This was adapted from the US Mint Coin of the Month article about the 1848 California Gold Quarter Eagle:

 

"Colonel R.B. Mason, the military governor of California, sent the first 282 ounces of gold to the Secretary of War, who turned the gold over to the Mint in Philadelphia. The Mint made it into medals and quarter eagles.

 

"Then, in December, President Polk talked about the gold in his report to Congress. That's when things really started moving—and so did people...to California! The gold-seekers who rushed there in 1849 were called "Forty-niners."

 

"By that time, quarter eagles were already being made from California gold. To make sure people knew where the gold came from, the Mint stamped "CAL" on the coins right after the main design was stamped. This separate stamping is called "countermarking." The countermark was made above the head of the handsome eagle on the reverse side."

 

The question I have is can a countermarked or counterstamped coin be a commemorative?

 

Scott

[BillJones]

The purists say that the 1975-6 Bicentennial coins were NOT commemorative coins. I would say that they really were de facto circulating commemorative coins for the following reasons:

 

• They were issued to commemorate a specific, very important era in American history.

• They had unique reverse designs that were issued for a limited amount of time.

• Those designs contained images that recalled the era when the Declaration of Independence was signed.

• They had the duel date 1776 – 1976.

• These coins were created by an act of Congress that called for the Bicentennial to be recognized by a special issue of the nation’s coinage.

 

It’s been mentioned that the 1848 CAL quarter eagle should be viewed as the first U.S. commemorative coin. The notion was probably started by Dave Bowers when he led off his opus about U.S. commemorative coins, which he published in the 1990s.

 

If the 1848 CAL quarter eagle can be considered a commemorative, then certainly the Bicentennial coinage should also be viewed as commemorative issues. In fact I’d say that the Bicentennial coins have a stronger claim.

[Zoins]

If the CAL countermark can be a commemorative, would a mintmark also indicate a commemorative?

[DC Dawg]

If the CAL countermark can be a commemorative, would a mintmark also indicate a commemorative?

That's an interesting question.

 

Then could the Columbian Half be considered a circulating commemorative? After all, since the Mint created too many for the demand, they ended up putting the balance into circulation at the time.

 

Scott

[BillJones]

Then could the Columbian Half be considered a circulating commemorative?

 

I don't think so. The Columbian half only became a "circulating commemorative" after the sales were way below expectations and the Columbian Expo organizers ran short of money and allowed the coins to go into circulation to pay their bills. At the beginning here was no intent for the coins to circulate as it was with the Bicentennial coinage.

 

Other early commemoratives got some time in circulation too. The best known one was the Monroe, which was actually distributed by the Hollywood film industry. Some of theose coins were sold, but many were allowed to circulate for a time.

[WoodenJefferson]

Addendum:

 

As I understand it, the Great Depression that started in 1929 and peaking in 1933, caused so much hardship that Commemorative coinage like the Columbian half dollars were brought out of sock drawers across the nation and finally spent as a monetized 50 cent piece. They stayed in circulation buying goods through out the 30's until the advent of World War.

 

This is another reason how so many show signs of wear. When you are hungry, 50 cents, is 50 cents.

 

Edit: I was always under the assumption that the 1932 Washington Quarter was the first circulating Commemorative but a fellow board member said there were some interesting comments in Bower's book as to whether or not this is completly true. I have as of yet to uncover contrary information. Please help.

[Conder101]

Mike, was the CAL put there to actually commemorate something?

It could be seen as commemorating, or celebrating the discovery of a major gold strike in California. They were a "made from" since they used the first of the new gold discovery, and they were stamped to mark or celebrate the source of the metal (Kind of like the Virgo or Lima marked British coinages which were made from treasure captured in Navel battles.) A commemoration can be made of a current event, it doesn't have to be of something from past history.

[Zoins]

Mike, was the CAL put there to actually commemorate something?

It could be seen as commemorating, or celebrating the discovery of a major gold strike in California. They were a "made from" since they used the first of the new gold discovery, and they were stamped to mark or celebrate the source of the metal (Kind of like the Virgo or Lima marked British coinages which were made from treasure captured in Navel battles.) A commemoration can be made of a current event, it doesn't have to be of something from past history.

I just found this US Mint Kids Coin of the Month article which describes some history leading up to the 1848 CAL quarter eagles. Given that news of California gold was spreading on the East Coast after a New York Herald newspaper article and President Polk had mentioned it in his report to Congress, it seems quite plausible that it was intended to commemorate a current event and demonstrate to people that there really was gold in California due to their widespread circulation.

 

Could one differentiator be that the CAL quarter eagles were not authorized by Congress as a commemorative whereas virtually every other one has been?

[James_OldeTowne]

Guys, this was a fantastic discussion, and you gave me some great ideas for a future article.

 

THANKS!

[DC Dawg]

Guys, this was a fantastic discussion, and you gave me some great ideas for a future article.

 

THANKS!

FYI... I did additional research (actually read some papers I copied from the Library of Congress) and fixed the description I made above. You can read it on my blog.

 

Scott

[Zoins]

Good article Scott. Would it be possible to put up a photo of Laura Gardin Fraser's design? What about Thomas Cremona's design? Do we know what any of the other design submissions looked like?