Old Spanish Trail 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 | 1935 |
Mintage | 10,000 with 8 pieces for the Assay Commission |
Mint marks | None, all pieces struck at the Philadelphia Mint without mint mark |
Obverse | |
Design | The head of a cow |
Designer | L. W. Hoffecker |
Design date | 1935 |
Reverse | |
Design | Yucca plant superimposed on map of the Gulf Coast states. |
Designer | L. W. Hoffecker |
Design date | 1935 |
The Old Spanish Trail half dollar is a
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover vetoed the Gadsden Purchase half dollar bill. Hoffecker had been the moving force behind that effort, and he sought another commemorative coin proposal that he could control if authorizing legislation was passed. He chose the travels of Spanish officer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in the early 16th century. Hoffecker took liberties both with the timing of Cabeza de Vaca's travels and their location. For instance, although Hoffecker's hometown of El Paso, Texas, is featured on the coin, Cabeza de Vaca came nowhere near it. All this made little difference to Congress, which passed the Old Spanish Trail coin bill without opposition. It was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Once they were struck, Hoffecker purchased the coins from the government and sold them to collectors, ostensibly on behalf of the local museum, but in fact for his personal profit, something he later denied in testimony before Congress. There were no complaints about the distribution printed in the pages of
Background
In the 1930s, commemorative coins were not sold by the government—Congress, in authorizing legislation, usually designated an organization which had the exclusive right to purchase them at face value and vend them to the public at a premium.[3] In the case of the Old Spanish Trail half dollar, the responsible group was the El Paso Museum, acting through its chairman.[4]
Lyman William Hoffecker (usually known as L. W. Hoffecker) was an El Paso, Texas, coin dealer and an official of the American Numismatic Association (ANA).[5] In 1929, he organized the Gadsden Purchase Commission (consisting mostly of himself) to seek a commemorative coin issue for the 75th anniversary of the Gadsden Purchase. A bill that would have authorized one passed both houses of Congress in 1930, but it was vetoed by President Herbert Hoover, who deemed commemorative coins abusive. Undiscouraged by this, in 1935 (after Hoover left office) Hoffecker made a second attempt for a commemorative coin issue he would control, for the Old Spanish Trail, becoming chairman of the El Paso Museum Coin Committee. This time, he visited Washington and had discussions with several lawmakers, and was even granted a five-minute interview with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a talk Hoffecker said "that saved us".[6] Hoffecker later testified before Congress that he was asked to handle the arrangements of the Old Spanish Trail half dollar as the only coin collector in El Paso, something Q. David Bowers, in his volume on commemoratives, called a lie, as Hoffecker elsewhere in his correspondence refers to local collectors buying a few of the coins.[7]
Legislation
In the Senate, the Old Spanish Trail bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency.
Preparation
Hoffecker provided sketches for the half dollar, and sent them to the
Edmund J. Senn of El Paso was hired to make the required plaster models based on the designs and the requirements of the Fine Arts Commission.
Design
The obverse depicts the head of a cow, intended as a rebus for Cabeza de Vaca, of whom no portrait could be found. Instead, the literal translation of his title was used. There are no other design elements on the obverse, only lettering. Arlie Slabaugh in his volume on commemoratives found the obverse "unorthodox" but "it does what it was intended to do, tells the story and then stops, leaving a generally pleasing and uncluttered design".[2]
The reverse features a
Swiatek, in his 2012 volume on commemoratives, describes the Old Spanish Trail issue as "beautiful and very popular".[22] Bowers noted that it was "popular with collectors from the very start, and this enthusiasm has carried through to the present day".[23]
Art historian
Production and distribution
There was a note in the June 1935 edition of The Numismatist (the ANA's journal) authored by Hoffecker, stating that he, as head of the Museum Committee, would be selling the Old Spanish Trail half dollars at $2 each, plus postage. He stated that only 10,000 would be issued, and "we wish all collectors to obtain a few and will not allow any speculator to hold up the public."[26] He placed an advertisement the following month, stating that he was ready to take orders and he hoped the coins would be available from the Mint in 60 days.[27]
There is no particular reason why he [Hoffecker] or anyone else should have sold commemoratives for purely altruistic reasons. While [coin dealers] Wayte Raymond, Stack's, B. Max Mehl, and others acted as distributors and thus were not the focal point of many complaints, Hoffecker dreamed up the scheme, much as C. Frank Dunn did for the Boones, and the fact that he was not chastised by the numismatic community is a testimonial to his adroit sense of politicking and public relations.
The Philadelphia Mint in September struck 10,000 half dollars, plus eight extra that would be held for inspection and testing at the 1936 meeting of the annual
The low mintage of the issue has made it desirable to those collectors seeking to put together a type set of commemoratives, one of each design. The Old Spanish Trail half dollar sold at retail for about $4 in 1940, in uncirculated condition. It thereafter increased in value, selling for about $38 by 1955, and $510 by 1975.
References
- ^ a b Flynn, p. 172.
- ^ a b c Slabaugh, p. 106.
- ^ Slabaugh, pp. 3–5.
- ^ Flynn, p. 353.
- ^ a b Swiatek, p. 255.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 301–302.
- ^ Bowers, p. 306.
- ^ a b c "Old Spanish Trail Commemorative 50-Cent Pieces". Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved September 19, 2018 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Coinage of 50-Cent Pieces in Commemoration of the Cabeza de Vaca Expedition and Opening of the Old Spanish Trail". United States House of Representatives. April 2, 1935. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
- ^ a b 1935 Congressional Record, Vol. 81, Page 4951 (April 3, 1935)
- ^ 1935 Congressional Record, Vol. 81, Page 4952 (April 3, 1935)
- ^ "Coinage of 50-Cent Pieces in Commemoration of the Cabeza de Vaca Expedition and Opening of the Old Spanish Trail". United States Senate. May 23, 1935. Archived from the original on May 7, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2019.
- ^ 1935 Congressional Record, Vol. 81, Page 8318 (May 28, 1935)
- ^ "Silver Commemoratives: 1935 Spanish Trail 50C MS". Numismatic Guaranty Corporation. Archived from the original on August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 175–76.
- ^ a b c Swiatek & Breen, p. 180.
- ^ Bowers, p. 304.
- ^ Taxay, p. 176.
- ^ Taxay, p. 178.
- ^ Flynn, p. 171.
- ^ Brothers, p. 65.
- ^ Swiatek, p. 258.
- ^ Bowers, p. 310.
- ^ Vermeule, p. 191.
- ^ a b Vermeule, p. 192.
- ^ Hoffecker, L. W. (June 1935). "The Old Spanish Trail Half Dollar". The Numismatist: 375.
- ^ Hoffecker, L. W. (June 1935). "Old Spanish Trail Half Dollars". The Numismatist: 479.
- ^ Bowers, p. 301.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 305–309.
- ^ Bowers, p. 305.
- ^ Lupia, John N. III (2018). "Hoffecker, Lyman William". Encyclopedic Dictionary of Numismatic Biographies. Archived from the original on October 27, 2018. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 310–311.
- ^ Yeoman, p. 1080.
- ^ Flynn, p. 173.
Sources
- Brothers, Dan (June 2014). "L. W. Hoffecker". The Numismatist. American Numismatic Association: 65.
- ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
- Flynn, Kevin (2008). The Authoritative Reference on Commemorative Coins 1892–1954. Roswell, GA: Kyle Vick. OCLC 711779330.
- 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, IL: KWS Publishers. ISBN 978-0-9817736-7-4.
- Swiatek, Anthony; ISBN 978-0-668-04765-4.
- ISBN 978-0-668-01536-3.
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- Yeoman, R. S. (2018). A Guide Book of United States Coins 2014 (Mega Red 4th ed.). Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-0-7948-4580-3.
External links
- Media related to Old Spanish Trail half dollar at Wikimedia Commons