I like to divide commemoratives into several series. The
first is that of silver coins minted during the earlier years from 1892 to 1954.
Within this range we have the 1893 Isabella quarter, the only commemorative of
its denomination, the 1900 Lafayette silver dollar, and 48 different designs of
commemorative half dollars.
The Lafayette dollar is interesting for several reasons.
Some 50,000 pieces were prestruck in December 1899, using five different die
pairs (although no one I know of collects them by die varieties today). As it
was not legal to strike a coin in advance of the date shown on the dies, the
Mint circumvented the question by stating that the coin really had no date
(which brings up another question: was it legal to mint a coin without a date?).
On the reverse of the Lafayette dollar appears the inscription PARIS 1900, which
was not the date of the coin, according to Mint officials, but, rather, was the
date at which a statue, also depicted on the reverse, was to be erected in
Paris.
Another interesting thing about the Lafayette dollar is
that only 36,000 were distributed. Most of the rest of the 50,000 mintage went
to the melting pot, some of them not until the 1940s. Had collectors of the
1930s and early 1940s known that the Treasury Department had on hand thousands
of Uncirculated Lafayette dollars there would have been a great rush to buy
them, but no one was aware of this, and only after they were melted was the
situation disclosed in a government report! What a numismatic shame.
As noted, from 1892 through 1954 some 48 different
commemorative designs were minted. In addition certain issues were produced with
slight design differences, or in mintmark varieties, bringing the total number
of commemorative half dollar varieties in the span to 142.
I have always enjoyed buying and selling commemorative half
dollars, for the wealth of history and intrigue they contain. Each coin has its
own story. Whenever I see a 1936 Cincinnati half dollar I think of the
shenanigans that went on when Thomas G. Melish, a well-known numismatist,
decided to turn a quick profit and persuaded Congress to create for him a
commemorative half dollar and give him the right to issue it for whatever price
he pleased! Melish and his associates posted the selling price at $7.75 for a
set of three coins (one each from the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco
mints), the highest price of any set up to that time, but sold just a few of the
5,000 sets at that price, preferring instead to send "sold out"
notices to many applicants, who were then free to buy Cincinnati sets on the
open market for prices far above the $7.75 price, in fact, at the $50 level.
