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Sesquicentennial of America
Independence |
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1926
By 1926, the frenzied Roaring Twenties was in
a full-throated roar. God was in His heaven, Calvin Coolidge
was in the White House, and all seemed well with the world.
Personal income was on the rise, new consumer goods were
pouring into the marketplace, and Americans had been given a
painless new way to pay for all those flivvers and Frigidaires.
It was called the installment plan. “The business of America
is business” was the way Coolidge had put it just a year
earlier, in a speech to the American Society of Newspaper
Editors. “Silent Cal” seemed to have a point: Wall Street was
actually running America's show, and the nation appeared to be
flourishing. Few foresaw the financial disaster that loomed
only three years down the line.
Amid the self-indulgence and the widespread
preoccupation with material possessions, Americans took time
in 1926 for a “party” with deeper significance: July 4, 1926
marked the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the
Declaration of Independence. This milestone inspired a
national celebration which included the production of two
special coins by the U.S. Mint. The Declaration's centennial
in 1876 had led to the staging of a lavish exposition in
Philadelphia. No special U.S. coins had been issued then,
however, for at that time Uncle Sam wasn't making
commemorative coinage; the practice didn't start until 1892.
By the mid-1920s, the U.S. Mint had issued more than a dozen
commemoratives, and it was a foregone conclusion that new ones
would join the list for the nation's 150th birthday party.
Initially, in fact, the National Sesquicentennial Exhibition
Association envisioned a whole series of coins with designs
portraying highlights from throughout U.S. history, but that
ambitious concept never got past the talking stage.
The original legislation did call for
production of a $1.50 gold piece, a denomination not issued
before or since, but that too ended up on the cutting-room
floor. The bill passed by Congress on March 3, 1925,
authorized the striking of up to one million silver half
dollars and up to 200,000 gold quarter eagles. These were to
be provided at face value to the Sesquicentennial Exhibition
Association for sale in conjunction with the national
observance of the occasion, which again would feature a fair
in Philadelphia.
Design of the coins was entrusted to John Ray
Sinnock, chief sculptor-engraver at the main U.S. mint in
Philadelphia. His artwork for the quarter eagle won quick
approval; a standing figure of Liberty dominates its obverse,
while Independence Hall graces its reverse. His half dollar
sketches encountered opposition, though. The Exhibition
Association deemed them unsatisfactory and turned instead to
sketches by John Frederick Lewis, a prominent local patron of
the arts, sending these to Sinnock for translation into models
for the coin. The chief engraver followed the group's
instructions, but he then displayed dubious integrity by
tacitly accepting full artistic credit for the coin. Only
decades later did Lewis' role receive proper recognition.
The half dollar's obverse features overlapping
right-facing busts of George Washington, the nation's first
president, and Calvin Coolidge, the White House's occupant at
the time of the sesquicentennial. This pairing has a certain
symmetry and logic, but a strong case could be made that
Thomas Jefferson—the Declaration's chief author—would have
been a more fitting choice than Washington. Even stronger
objections could be raised (and were indeed raised at the
time) to Coolidge's portrayal, since U.S. coinage tradition
(fostered by Washington himself) frowns upon the use of living
persons' likenesses on our coins. It's true that the 1921
Alabama Centennial half dollar had broken with this custom by
depicting that state's governor, Thomas Kilby, thereby
establishing a precedent for Coolidge's appearance, but many,
then and now, have viewed this as a case of two wrongs not
making a right.
The presidential portraits are surrounded by a
series of coinage mottos: LIBERTY above the portraits, UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA below them and IN GOD WE TRUST in minuscule
letters to their right. The coin's reverse features a
straightforward view of the Liberty Bell, with the dual dates
1776 and 1926 to the left and right, respectively. Above the
bell is the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM. Circling the rim, within an
interior border, are the inscriptions SESQUICENTENNIAL OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE and HALF DOLLAR. This reverse would
reappear, in modified form, 22 years later on the Franklin
half dollar, again with sole design credit being given to
Sinnock. Here, too, Lewis would receive his due only
belatedly. For reasons best known to itself, the sponsoring
organization insisted on extremely shallow relief for the
sesquicentennial coins. As a result, they struck up very
poorly; indeed, they may be more weakly struck as a group than
any other coins in U.S. history.
Strongly defined examples are all but unknown, and even
well-preserved uncirculated pieces generally lack detail and
appear to be flat and grainy. To make matters worse, many of
these coins have been cleaned and/or polished over the years,
perhaps in an effort to improve their lackluster looks.
Readily available in AU to Mint State 60, few have been
certified above Mint State 64 and almost none above MS 65. The
first places to show wear on the coins are Washington's
cheekbone and the lower part of the bell; technically
speaking, these are the highest points of the design.
The coins' unattractive appearance undoubtedly
hurt their sales. Then, too, the Sesquicentennial Exposition,
held in Philadelphia from June 1 through November 30, 1926,
fell far short of the sponsors' expectations, even though six
million people did pass through its gates. In any case,
relatively few fair-goers chose to pay the going price of $1
apiece for the half dollars and $4 each for the quarter
eagles, and huge quantities ended up being melted. Of the
1,000,528 half dollars (528 of them assay coins) struck at the
Philadelphia Mint in May and June of 1926, 859,408 were
returned there later for melting, resulting in a “net” mintage
of 140,592 pieces. Proofs of the “sesqui” coins were not
officially struck, but the late Walter Breen, a renowned
numismatic scholar, reported the existence of at least three
matte proof half dollars, adding that a fourth was rumored to
exist as well. Besides being sold at the fair, the coins were
also distributed by the Franklin Trust Company of
Philadelphia. The original packaging used by the bank
consisted of an envelope with the blue-imprint “Official
SesquiCentennial Coins,” along with a small commercial
message: “At Your Service Day and Night.”
The American Independence Sesquicentennial
half dollar and quarter eagle may not be the most
aesthetically appealing coins, but they hold a place of honor
in U.S. coinage history just the same. Numismatic scholar Don
Taxay made this point in his Illustrated History of U.S.
Commemorative Coinage. These, he wrote, “are, historically
speaking, our most important [coinage] memorial issues.”
GOOD FOR TRADE TOKEN COIN TROY OHIO SESQUICENTENNIAL
Illinois 1818-1968 Sesquicentennial Coin Medallion fine
RAYTOWN, MISSOURI 1821-1971 SESQUICENTENNIAL COIN TOKEN
Set Memphis Sesquicentennial Coins Gold Silver Beale St
ILLINOIS * 1818-1968 Sesquicentennial GOLD Colored COIN
1928 HAWAIIAN SESQUICENTENNIAL SILVER HALF COIN UNC
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