Illinois 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 Seal of Illinois |
Designer | John R. Sinnock |
Design date | 1918 |
The Illinois Centennial half dollar is a
A commemorative was wanted by the
The coins were minted in August 1918, and were sold to the public for $1 each. All sold, though many were held by a bank until 1933, and the profits used to defray the cost of local centennial celebrations or to help those in need because of World War I. Later writers have generally admired the coin, considering it one of the more handsome American commemoratives. The coin is valued in the hundreds of dollars today, though exceptional specimens may trade for more.
Legislation
The State of Illinois wanted a commemorative coin to be issued for the centennial of its 1818 admission to the Union.
On March 12, Ashbrook submitted a report on behalf of his committee recommending passage of the bill once it had been amended to reduce the authorized mintage from 200,000 to 100,000 and to add a statement that the United States government would not be responsible for the cost of the dies.[5]
Wheeler presented the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 6, 1918. He was quizzed by North Carolina's
H. R. 8742 was transmitted to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency. That committee's chairman, Oklahoma's
Since the versions the two houses had passed were not identical, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, where on May 25, Arizona's Carl Hayden successfully moved that the House agree to the Senate amendment. The Speaker, Champ Clark, felt that the title of the bill might have to be changed for reasons he did not explain, but Hayden disagreed and Clark did not press his point. The bill passed the House,[8] and was enacted by the signature of President Woodrow Wilson on June 1, 1918.[2]
Preparation and design
The designs were prepared internally in the Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint. The obverse design, depicting Abraham Lincoln, was created by Chief Engraver George T. Morgan.[9] The Chief Engraver worked from a photograph of a statue of Lincoln designed by Andrew O'Connor and unveiled in Springfield (the city where Lincoln lived for much of his adult life) in August 1918. Lincoln is shown beardless, as he was when living in Illinois before he was elected president in 1860.[10] He was chosen to be on the coin as Illinois' most famous resident.[11] The obverse also contains the mottoes LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST, as well as an inscription noting the centennial.[12]
The reverse was designed by the assistant engraver who would succeed Morgan on his death in 1925,
Secretary McAdoo had originally rejected the submissions. Acting Mint Director
Later commentators have praised the coin. Taxay deemed the obverse "undoubtedly the finest work Morgan ever did in his forty-eight years with the Mint. The head is not merely well drawn, there is in it a depth of feeling, and introspective mood that almost makes the observer feel he is intruding on the great man."[16] Writers on commemorative coins, including Arlie Slabaugh and David M. Bullowa, also admired the Illinois piece. Q. David Bowers deemed Sinnock's reverse "the finest work he ever did for a legal tender coin", not excluding the Roosevelt dime (1946) and Franklin half dollar (1948, posthumous).[17] Bowers noted that the border of both sides of the coin consists of beads and pellets, "an attractive substitute for denticles".[9]
Art historian
Production, distribution, and collecting
The people of Illinois will be pardoned if they feel a little "chesty" over their Illinois Centennial half dollar. Besides being a very handsome piece of money, it is the first of its class to be issued by the government. None of our previous souvenir coins has been for the purpose of commemorating an occasion, event or undertaking that was confined entirely by the boundaries of a single state. It is distinctly an Illinois coin.
Frank G. Duffield, editor of The Numismatist, at the 1918 convention of the American Numismatic Association in Philadelphia[20]
A total of 100,058 Illinois Centennial half dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint during August 1918, with the excess over the round number reserved for inspection and testing at the 1919 meeting of the annual
The coins were also sold by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce at $1 each, though some were eventually vended for less: Texas coin dealer
References
- ^ House hearings, p. 3.
- ^ a b "65 Bill Profile H.R. 8764 (1917–1919)". Retrieved March 26, 2017 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "65 H.R. 8764 Introduced in House" (pdf). United States House of Representatives.
- ^ House hearings, pp. 3–4.
- ^ "Coinage of Fifty-cent pieces in Commemoration of Admission of State of Illinois into the Union" (pdf). United States House of Representatives. March 12, 1918.
- ^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 4720 (April 6, 1918)
- ^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 6821–6822 (May 21, 1918)
- ^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 7087 (May 25, 1918)
- ^ a b c d Bowers, p. 132.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen, p. 109.
- ^ Slabaugh, p. 38.
- ^ Bowers, p. 131.
- ^ a b Flynn, p. 105.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 37–38.
- ^ Taxay, p. 38.
- ^ Taxay, p. 35.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 132–133.
- ^ Vermeule, p. 158.
- ^ Vermeule, p. 159.
- ^ LaMarre, Thomas S. (June 1989). "Morgan's Other Coin". The Numismatist: 903–905.
- ^ Swiatek & Breen, p. 110.
- ^ Bowers, p. 134.
- ^ "The Illinois Centennial Half Dollar". The Numismatist: 401. October 1918.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 132–134.
- ^ Yeoman 2017, p. 296.
- ^ Yeoman 2015, p. 1124.
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
- Flynn, Kevin (2008). The Authoritative Reference on Commemorative Coins 1892–1954. Roswell, Georgia: Kyle Vick. OCLC 711779330.
- Slabaugh, Arlie R. (1975). United States Commemorative Coinage (second ed.). Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-307-09377-6.
- Swiatek, Anthony; ISBN 978-0-668-04765-4.
- ISBN 978-0-668-01536-3.
- United States House of Representatives Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures (1918). Commission to Standardize Screw Threads. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office.
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4307-6.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4506-3.
External links
- Media related to Illinois Centennial half dollar at Wikimedia Commons