Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centennial half dollar
United States | |
Value | 50 cents (0.50 US dollars) |
---|---|
Mass | 12.5 g |
Diameter | 30.61 mm (1.20 in) |
Thickness | 2.15 mm (0.08 in) |
Edge | Reeded |
Composition |
|
Silver | 0.36169 troy oz |
Years of minting | 1936 |
Mintage | 25,015 |
Mint marks | None, all pieces struck at Philadelphia Mint without mint mark. |
Obverse | |
Design | P. T. Barnum |
Designer | Henry Kreis |
Design date | 1936 |
Reverse | |
Design | Stylized eagle |
Designer | Henry Kreis |
Design date | 1936 |
The Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centennial half dollar (also the Bridgeport Centennial half dollar or Bridgeport half dollar) is a
Bridgeport authorities wanted a commemorative coin to help fund the centennial celebrations. At the time, Congress was authorizing such coins for even local events, and the Bridgeport half dollar legislation passed Congress without opposition. Kreis had designed the Connecticut Tercentenary half dollar (1935), and he produced designs showing a left-facing Barnum and a modernistic eagle similar to the one on the Connecticut piece.
The coins were vended to the public beginning in September 1936 at a price of $2. Too late for most of the centennial celebrations, the coins nevertheless sold well, though leaving an unsold remainder of several thousand pieces. These were bought up by coin dealers and wholesale quantities were available on the secondary market until the 1970s. The Bridgeport half dollar sells in the low hundreds of dollars, depending on condition.
Background
Bridgeport, the largest city in Connecticut,[1] was named after a drawbridge that local residents were proud of. Settled in 1639,[2] it was an important center during the 17th and 18th centuries, but was not incorporated as a city until 1836.[3] Elias Howe, inventor of the modern sewing machine, built a factory there.[2]
Among Bridgeport's famous residents was
Until 1954, the entire mintage of each commemorative coin issues issue was sold by the government at face value to a group named by Congress in authorizing legislation, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. The new pieces then entered the secondary market, and in early 1936 all earlier commemoratives sold at a premium to their issue prices. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the coin collecting hobby, where they sought to purchase the new issues. The growing market for such pieces led to many commemorative coin proposals in Congress, to mark anniversaries and benefit (it was hoped) worthy causes, including some of purely local significance.[6] Among these were the Bridgeport piece, intended to fund local celebrations of the city's centennial; the designated group was Bridgeport Centennial, Inc., in charge of the celebrations.[7]
Legislation
A bill for a Bridgeport Centennial half dollar was introduced into the United States Senate by Augustine Lonergan of Connecticut on March 10, 1936.[8] The other Connecticut senator, Francis T. Maloney, had been asked three or four weeks previously to introduce the bill, but Senator Maloney had chosen not to do so because of the many commemorative coin bills already before the Senate.[9] The Bridgeport bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency, and was one of several commemorative coin bills to be considered on March 11, 1936, by a subcommittee led by Colorado's Alva B. Adams.[a][10]
Senator Adams had heard of the commemorative coin abuses of the mid-1930s, with issuers increasing the number of coins needed for a complete set by having them issued at different mints with different mint marks; authorizing legislation placed no prohibition on this.[11] Lyman W. Hoffecker, a Texas coin dealer and official of the American Numismatic Association, testified and told the subcommittee that some issues, like the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926, had been issued over the course of years with different dates and mint marks. Other issues had been entirely bought up by single dealers, and some low-mintage varieties of commemorative coins were selling at high prices. The many varieties and inflated prices for some issues that resulted from these practices angered coin collectors trying to keep their collections current.[12]
On March 26, Adams reported the bill back to the Senate, though with extensive amendments. The coins could only be struck at one mint; there would be a mintage limit of 10,000 coins and no fewer than 5,000 could be made at a time. They would have to be dated 1936, and Bridgeport Centennial, Inc., the organization designated to purchase the coins, had one year to do so. The net proceeds Bridgeport Centennial, Inc. received from selling the coins could only be used for the centennial observances.[13] The bill was brought to the Senate floor on March 27, 1936, the second of six coinage bills being considered one after the other. Like the others, it was amended and passed without recorded discussion or dissent.[14]
The bill reached the House of Representatives on April 1 and was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. That committee reported back on the 16th, recommending an amendment to require that not less than 25,000 coins be struck. The amendment deleted the language requiring 5,000 to be minted at a time, as well as the one-year time limit.[15] On April 28, Schuyler Merritt of Connecticut brought the bill to the House floor, asking that it be passed with the recommended amendment, and it was, without any discussion or dissent.[16]
As the two houses had not passed identical versions, this sent the bill back to the Senate. On May 4, Adams moved that the Senate agree to the House amendment, which it did;[17] the bill became law, authorizing not fewer than 25,000 half dollars, with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 15, 1936.[18] The lack of an upper mintage limit or a time limit for production meant that Bridgeport Centennial, Inc. could have ordered as many coins as it wanted as far into the future as it cared to as long as they were dated 1936. Any such authority was removed by Congress with legislation passed August 5, 1939, directing that commemorative coins authorized before March 1 of that year be no longer struck.[3]
Preparation
On June 10, 1936, Bridgeport mayor
On June 24, 1936, the commission chair,
Design
The obverse of the Bridgeport half dollar depicts the bust of P. T. Barnum, a subject that has absorbed much of the commentary on the coin's design. Michael K. Garofalo, in his article on Kreis, stated, "although the portrait bears a very strong likeness to Barnum, the rendering was merely average for the talented Kreis."[23] Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, in their volume on commemoratives, aver that "the choice of P. T. Barnum, of all imaginable people ... has less to do with his 'There's a sucker born every minute' cynicism (however applicable this might have been to commemorative coin fanciers in the 1930s) than to his philanthropic benefactions to the city."[7] Breen called Barnum the patron saint of coin collectors.[24] Dealer B. Max Mehl, in his 1937 work on commemoratives, suggested purchasers of the coin were "suckers", and wrote, "we think that Barnum's likeness, in view of his famous remark, is certainly most appropriate".[25]
Mehl also criticized the reverse of the coin:
The eagle (?) on the new Bridgeport half dollar is the biggest joke as a specimen of our noble bird that ever appeared on a coin. Not a feather appears on its tin-roof surface, and several beholders said it resembled an airplane. Turn it around and you have a fine shark with two dorsal fins, an open mouth and a tongue. The shark appears to be laughing. I wonder at whom? And how apropos that P. T. Barnum's portrait adorns the other side. He was right in his famous remarks years ago.[25]
Swiatek and Breen deemed the coin a "very
Production, distribution and collecting
In September 1936, a total of 25,015 Bridgeport half dollars were struck at the
Several thousand pieces remained unsold, and transferred by the centennial organizers to the Bridgeport Community Chest, which sold them wholesale to coin dealers at a slight advance on face value. In the 1950s, Toivo Johnson, a coin dealer in Maine, possessed about a thousand of them, and rolls of 20 were sold at coin conventions for years after; many were acquired and then sold by a coin investment firm in the early 1970s.[33]
By 1940 the Bridgeport piece sold for about $1.50 in uncirculated condition, though this went up to $2.50 by 1950, $12 by 1960, and $250 by 1985.
Notes
- ^ In addition to the Bridgeport piece, they were: the Wisconsin Territorial Centennial half dollar, Delaware Tercentenary half dollar, Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar, New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar, House and Senate versions of the Long Island Tercentenary half dollar, and an unsuccessful proposal for a half dollar honoring William Henry Harrison. In addition, there was a proposal for a new design for the multi-year Arkansas Centennial half dollar, which would pass, and a similar request for the Texas Centennial half dollar, which would fail alongside bills for commemorative medals for Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, a proposal to revive the three-cent nickel, and a bill to declare it the policy of the U.S. to strike commemorative medals instead of commemorative coins.[10]
References
- ^ Scinto, Rich (June 3, 2019). "Here's How Each CT Town's Population Changed In 2018". Patch Media. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ a b c Slabaugh, p. 121.
- ^ a b Bowers, p. 323.
- ^ Slabaugh, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Graham, Bryan Armen (May 22, 2017). "'Sanctuary of joy': performers and crowds bid farewell to Ringling Bros circus". The Guardian. Retrieved December 29, 2019.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b c Swiatek & Breen, p. 33.
- ^ "S.4229" (PDF). March 26, 1936 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 1, 15.
- ^ a b Senate hearings, pp. title page, 1–2.
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 18–23.
- ^ "S.4229" (PDF). March 26, 1936 – via ProQuest.
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 4489–4490 (March 27, 1936)
- ^ "S.4229" (PDF). April 16, 1936 – via ProQuest.
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 6314 (April 28, 1936)
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 6611 (May 4, 1936)
- ^ Flynn, pp. 354–355.
- ^ a b Flynn, pp. 262–263.
- ^ Taxay, pp. v–vi.
- ^ Flynn, pp. 263–264.
- ^ Swiatek & Breen, pp. 33–34.
- ^ a b c Garofalo, p. 44.
- ^ a b Bowers, p. 324.
- ^ a b Mehl, p. 38.
- ^ Taxay, p. 204.
- ^ Flynn, p. 61.
- ^ a b c Vermeule, p. 196.
- ^ a b c Swiatek & Breen, p. 34.
- ^ a b Bowers, p. 325.
- ^ "1936 Bridgeport 50C MS Silver Commemoratives". www.ngccoin.com. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
- ^ "1936 Bridgeport Centennial Half Dollar Commemorative Coin". Early Commemorative Coins. 4 August 2011. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 325–326.
- ^ Bowers, p. 327.
- ^ Yeoman, p. 1086.
- ^ "1936 50C Bridgeport MS67+ PCGS. CAC..." Heritage Auctions. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
- Flynn, Kevin (2008). The Authoritative Reference on Commemorative Coins 1892–1954. Roswell, GA: Kyle Vick. OCLC 711779330.
- Garofalo, Michael K. (November 2006). "Henry G. Kreis: An epitaph in stone, bronze & silver". The Numismatist: 40–46.
- Mehl, B. Max (1937). The Commemorative Coinage of the United States. Fort Worth, TX: B. Max Mehl. OCLC 2872685.
- Slabaugh, Arlie R. (1975). United States Commemorative Coinage (second ed.). Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-307-09377-6.
- Swiatek, Anthony & ISBN 978-0-668-04765-4.
- ISBN 978-0-668-01536-3.
- United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency (March 11, 1936). Coinage of commemorative 50-cent pieces. United States Government Printing Office.
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4580-3.
External links
- Media related to Bridgeport Centennial half dollar at Wikimedia Commons