Cleveland 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 | 1936–1937, though all are dated 1936 |
Mintage | 50,030 including 30 coins for the Assay Commission |
Mint marks | None, all struck at the Philadelphia Mint without mint mark. |
Obverse | |
Design | Portrait of Moses Cleaveland |
Designer | Brenda Putnam |
Design date | 1936 |
Reverse | |
Design | Map of the Great Lakes with cities marked by stars and with a compass point marking Cleveland |
Designer | Brenda Putnam |
Design date | 1936 |
The Cleveland Centennial half dollar is
In the mid-1930s, commemorative coins were increasing in value, and Cincinnati businessman
Melish distributed the Cleveland coins through the exposition, at local banks, and by mail order from his office in Cincinnati. Sales were good, and the full authorized mintage of 50,000 was struck. Congress had inserted safeguards in the legislation to curb excessive profits, and though some of the coins were minted in 1937, there was no change of date, meaning collectors would have to purchase only one piece to have a complete set. Thousands remained in dealer inventories for years, and the coins remain inexpensive by the standards of commemorative coins of the era.
Background
After the
Legislation
A bill for a Cleveland Centennial half dollar was introduced into the United States Senate by Ohio's Robert J. Bulkley on March 23, 1936, and it was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. The bill was to honor both the 100th anniversary of Cleveland's incorporation as a city, and the Great Lakes Exposition, to be held there in 1936. The original bill would have provided for 50,000 pieces, which could be purchased from the United States Bureau of the Mint at any time, and could be struck by any or all three of the mints then in operation. The bill was reported back to the House by committee chairman Alva B. Adams of Colorado on March 26, drastically amended.[11]
Adams had held hearings on other commemorative coins on March 11, 1936, and had separately been told of the abuses as issuers sought to get collectors to buy their coins. These included getting additional designs authorized (as in the case of the Arkansas Centennial half dollar) and having the coins struck at all three mints. As the law required coins to bear the year of striking, and because mint marks were used on coins produced at some mints, striking them in successive years at multiple mints created more varieties that coin enthusiasts would have to buy to keep their collections complete.[12] The committee heard of the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, authorized in 1926 and still being struck in 1936, and of commemorative coins created with intentionally low mintages as a way of inflating profits.[13] When legislation for a Cleveland half dollar came before his committee, Adams struck out the entire bill, after the enacting clause, and substituted a new version. The original legislation had given the Cleveland Centennial Commemorative Coin Committee, controlled by Melish, discretion to have the new piece struck at any of the mints, at any time even over the course of years, in any amount up to the authorized limit of 50,000. Adams's new text kept the total limit but set a minimum of 25,000 that had to be issued. Adams's amendment required that all the coins be of a single design, be struck at a single mint (to be selected by the Director of the Mint). It provided that all the coins be dated 1936 even if struck later and that the Cleveland committee could purchase no less than 5,000 at a time.[11] In a separate report, Senator Adams noted that Bulkley's original bill "contains certain provisions which the committee recommends be eliminated not only from such bill but also from all subsequent bills relating to the issuance of commemorative coins."[14]
The bill, as amended, passed the Senate without a recorded vote on March 27, 1936.
Preparation
At funerals I hear read the Scriptures to the effect that "one star differeth from another in glory".[a] So I suppose Miss Putnam's big star for Cleveland refers to the glory rather than the size of the city. Well, as a voter in Detroit[b] I don't mind, and probably no Chicago person will ever see one of the coins. I am convinced that the whole movement is a coin-collector's racket that is going on all over the country.[21]
Putnam's models were approved by the commission on June 2, 1936.[22] The Medallic Art Company of New York reduced the models to half-dollar sized hubs from which coinage dies could be prepared.[19]
Design
Putnam's obverse features Moses Cleaveland,[23] in a depiction based on the only known portrait of him, by an unknown artist.[24] Surrounding Cleaveland are two lines of inscription, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * HALF DOLLAR and MOSES CLEAVELAND * LIBERTY. The designer's initials, "BP", are beneath Cleaveland's head. The reverse shows a map of the Great Lakes region with nine stars to represent its cities, listed from west to east: Duluth, Milwaukee, Chicago, Toledo, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, Buffalo, and Rochester. Cleveland gets the largest star, which is transfixed by a compass.[23] Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, in their book on commemoratives, stated that "we have not found documentation, but we suspect that the compass was intended to show Cleveland as the center of industry within a radius of approximately 900 miles", thus encompassing, the authors suggested, not only the Great Lakes cities represented, but New York, Boston, Washington, and St. Louis.[25] The other inscriptions required by law appear in the upper right of the reverse, and 1836 GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION 1936 CLEVELAND CENTENNIAL surround the map.[26]
Numismatist David Bullowa, in his early work on commemoratives, stated, "the design of this issue is pleasing ... the obverse and reverse alike are sharply defined, interesting and not crowded".
Production, distribution, and collecting
Melish, in his capacity as treasurer of the Cleveland committee, ordered 25,000 pieces in July 1936. They were shipped from the
The Cleveland Centennial and Great Lakes Exposition opened on June 27, 1936, and before it closed on October 4, some four million people passed through its gates. Located on a 150-acre (61 ha) site by the shores of Lake Erie, there were artistic and industrial exhibits, as well as the usual amusements.[31] The half dollars were sold at the fairgrounds, at Ohio banks, and by mail order from Melish's office in Cincinnati. Editor Lee Hewitt commented in the Numismatic Scrapbook, "it seems strange that Mr. Melish, living in Cincinnati, should be the distributor of the Cleveland issue."[32] The Cincinnati Musical Center coin had quickly sold out, the pieces Melish allowed on the market many times oversubscribed,[29] but for the Cleveland piece, "Melish's sales strategy had to be very different; the coins would have to be aimed at the Exposition visitors and the general public at $1.50 each, not at his own coterie of greedy speculators".[24]
Melish sent form letters to collectors warning that his committee had received offers from speculators to buy the entire issue and suggesting they act quickly to get their orders in. By the end of July, Melish wrote that 24,000 pieces had been distributed and that the remaining thousand soon would be. Sales were good enough that in February 1937, Melish ordered the 25,000 pieces which remained from the authorized quantity. In addition to those 25,000 coins, 15 more pieces were struck, intended for the 1938 Assay Commission. Because of the legislation, the new pieces resembled the old exactly, including bearing the date "1936". So many were produced that thousands were hoarded by coin dealers.[33] In 1942, Melish offered 16,000 Cleveland Centennial half dollars to prominent dealer Abe Kosoff for any advance on face value. Kosoff, who would, after Melish's death, auction his coin collection, declined.[34]
In 1941, the Western Reserve Coin Club of Cleveland celebrated its 20th anniversary by
Notes
References
- ^ Slabaugh, pp. 111–112.
- ^ Flynn, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Horning, p. 30.
- ^ Bowers, p. 329.
- ^ Slabaugh, pp. 3–5.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 329–330.
- ^ Flynn, p. 71.
- ^ Bowers, p. 26.
- ^ Bowers, p. 18.
- ^ a b c Bowers, p. 338.
- ^ a b "S. 4335". United States Senate. March 26, 1936. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2017.(subscription required)
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 20–21.
- ^ "Calendar No. 1805" (PDF). United States Senate. March 26, 1936. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved December 1, 2021.(subscription required)
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 4489 (March 27, 1936)
- ^ "S. 4335". United States House of Representatives. April 16, 1936. Archived from the original on December 1, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2017.(subscription required)
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 6012–6013 (April 23, 1936)
- ^ 1936 Congressional Record, Vol. 82, Page 6048 (April 24, 1936)
- ^ a b c Swiatek, p. 315.
- ^ Taxay, pp. v–vi, 190.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 190–193.
- ^ Taxay, p. 193.
- ^ a b Flynn, p. 73.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen, p. 48.
- ^ Swiatek & Breen, p. 47.
- ^ Swiatek, p. 110.
- ^ a b Vermeule, p. 193.
- ^ Vermeule, p. 194.
- ^ a b Bowers, p. 339.
- ^ Swiatek, p. 316.
- ^ Bowers, p. 337.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 338–339.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 339–341.
- ^ "Melish collection to be auctioned". The Numismatist. American Numismatic Association: 168. February 1956. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2015.
- ^ Swiatek, pp. 316–317.
- ^ Yeoman 2020, p. 1093.
- ^ Yeoman 2015, p. 1150.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
- Flynn, Kevin (2008). The Authoritative Reference on Commemorative Coins 1892–1954. Roswell, GA: Kyle Vick. OCLC 711779330.
- Horning, Charles D. (Winter–Spring 1993). "1936 - 34 - $56.47". The Commemorative Trail: The Journal of the Society for U.S. Commemorative Coins (3): 26–33.
- Slabaugh, Arlie R. (1975). United States Commemorative Coinage (second ed.). Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-307-09377-6.
- Swiatek, Anthony (2012). Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States. Chicago: KWS Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9817736-7-4.
- 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. (subscription required)
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4307-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4705-0.