Roanoke Island, North Carolina, half dollar
United States | |
Value | 50 cents (0.50 US dollars) |
---|---|
Mass | 12.5[1] g |
Diameter | 30.61[1] mm (1.20 in) |
Thickness | 2.15 mm (0.08[2][3] in) |
Edge | Reeded[1] |
Composition |
|
Silver | 0.36169[1] troy oz |
Years of minting | 1937 |
Mintage | 50,030 (including 30 pieces reserved for the Assay Commission) |
Mint marks | None. All pieces struck at the Philadelphia Mint without mint marks. |
Obverse | |
Design | Walter Raleigh |
Designer | William Marks Simpson |
Design date | 1937 |
Reverse | |
Design | Eleanor Dare holding her child, Virginia Dare |
Designer | William Marks Simpson |
Design date | 1937 |
The Roanoke Island, North Carolina, half dollar (also Roanoke Island half dollar) is a commemorative coin issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1937. The coin commemorated the 350th anniversary of the Roanoke Colony, depicting Sir Walter Raleigh on one side, and on the other Eleanor Dare, holding her child, Virginia Dare, the first child of English descent born in an English colony in the Americas.
The Roanoke Island half dollar was one of many commemorative issues authorized by Congress in 1936. Since it was intended to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the colony, founded in 1587, the coins were not struck until 1937.
The legislation allowed the Roanoke Memorial Association to buy at least 25,000 at a time, so long as the issue took place before July 1937, and the group placed two orders for the minimum amount. Eventually, 21,000 were returned to the Mint for redemption and melting. The Roanoke Island issue catalogs in the low hundreds of dollars.
Background and inception
In 1584, Sir
A resupply expedition arrived only weeks after the colonists departed, and left 15 individuals, but they perished by 1587. Raleigh sold his rights, and the purchasers sent three ships with colonists, who were left at Roanoke Island in 1587 under John White. On August 18, 1587, White's daughter Eleanor Dare gave birth to a daughter, Virginia Dare, the first English child born in a New World English colony. Nine days later, White left for England to arrange for resupply. His attempts there were frustrated by war with Spain, as England needed every ship to defend against the Spanish Armada. It was not until 1590 that White returned, to find the colonists gone, leaving the word CROATOAN carved into a tree. Their fate remains unknown, although there has been much speculation that they perished on the island or at sea, or were assimilated into a nearby Native American tribe.[5]
Sparked by new issues with low mintages for which the demand was greater than the supply, the market for
By April 1936, Congress had reacted to these practices, adding protections to commemorative coinage bills. These included a requirement that all coins be struck at a single mint, rather than all three then operating as with earlier issues (the use of mint marks would force coin collectors to buy three near-identical coins to have a complete set).[9] The market also reacted, with many of the new issues failing to sell out, and prices dropping on the secondary market by as much as two-thirds. By the end of 1936, the boom in commemorative coins had ended.[10]
Legislation
A bill to authorize a Roanoke half dollar was introduced into the
The bill then passed to the Senate, and on May 21, 1936, was referred to its
Since the two houses had passed different versions, the bill returned to the House of Representatives. There, on June 16, 1936, Warren moved that the House adopt the Senate amendment. That body agreed to concur in the Senate amendment without recorded debate or dissent.[17] It was enacted into law with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 24, 1936, authorizing an unlimited number of Roanoke half dollars, of which no less than 25,000 could be issued at any one time upon the request of and payment by the Roanoke Memorial Association. No coins could be issued after July 1, 1937.[18]
Preparation
William Marks Simpson, who would later design the
Simpson reworked his models, redistributing the text on the coin and giving Raleigh's bust on the obverse a truncation which numismatic author Don Taxay described as "more graceful".[22] One change Simpson made was to render Raleigh's last name as "Ralegh", writing to Caemmerer on December 11 to state that Raleigh never called himself that, and most commonly signed his last name as "Ralegh". The commission insisted on the spelling "Raleigh", and Simpson yielded. The sculptor's models were reduced to coin-size hubs by the Medallic Art Company of New York.[23]
Design
Simpson's design for the obverse features a bust of Sir Walter Raleigh, with his name below. He wears a ruffled collar, an earring, and a feathered hat; the feather intrudes between the words in the name of the country of issue, which rings the upper half of the obverse design. Below Raleigh's shoulder is the artist's monogram, WSM. The denomination of the coin, and the legends LIBERTY and E PLURIBUS UNUM are also on the obverse.[24]
Numismatist Pete Smith described the bust of Raleigh as "a somewhat flattering likeness based on portraits made during Raleigh's life".
The reverse depicts Eleanor Dare, holding her daughter Virginia in her arms. While infants had appeared on U.S. coins before (for example, on the 1936
Bair stated that although the obverse received criticism, the reverse was applauded.[31] Simpson wrote that the motif of Eleanor Dare holding her daughter was inspired by a visit to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, which like Roanoke was located in coastal North Carolina, where he saw the guard's wife holding their baby, waiting for her husband to go off duty. "I’ve suggested the young woman holding her child close to her breast gazing far off to the horizon beyond the ships. The sea breeze whips her clothing. I’ve modeled her standing there courageously, facing uncertainty with pride and determination, but always with the thought of her native England."[31]
Vermeule described the reverse as, "the frozen, mannered statue of Virginia Dare in the arms of Ellinor Dare, all set on a pedestal ... is a pure, twentieth-century Neoclassic concept of motherhood, flapping and nobly sentimental even in miniature."[26] He complained that there was too much lettering on the coin, which was too varied in scale. Nevertheless, "in praise of this coin, it is necessary to note its unusual flavor, differing somewhat from the usual iconography of founder and early settler commemorative half-dollars."[32]
Release, distributing and collecting
An initial quantity of 25,000 half dollars, plus 15 pieces reserved for inspection and testing by the
A further 25,015 pieces, also including 15 pieces for the Assay Commission, were struck in June.[33] Pursuant to the authorizing act, no more could be ordered by the memorial association after July 1, 1937.[21] They were available in time for the August 1937 celebration of the anniversary on Roanoke Island, which featured a production of an outdoor drama, The Lost Colony, which has been produced on an annual basis there since then.[31] The United States Post Office Department issued a postage stamp to commemorate the anniversary, with the design based on the coin's reverse.[35] Purchasers of the coin by mail were invited to spend an additional $.55 to buy the booklet A History of the Roanoke Island Settlement. The coins came too late to capitalize on the 1936 commemorative coin boom, and 21,000 were returned to the Mint for redemption and melting.[36]
The Roanoke coin could be purchased in uncirculated condition for about $1.50 in 1940, $2.50 in 1950, $30 in 1970, and $540 during the second commemorative coin boom in 1980.
References
- ^ a b c d e f Yeoman, p. 1096.
- ^ Flynn, p. 354.
- OCLC 1123997620.
- ^ Slabaugh, pp. 142–143.
- ^ Slabaugh, p. 143.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 62–63.
- ^ a b Yeoman, pp. 1068–1077.
- ^ Swiatek, p. 304.
- ^ Flynn, p. 116.
- ^ Bowers, p. 63.
- ^ "Congressional Record, May 20, 1936, pp. 7651–7652, 7656" (PDF).
- ^ "Congressional Record, May 21, 1936, p. 7660" (PDF).
- ^ Senate report, p. 1.
- ^ Senate hearings, pp. 11–12.
- ^ a b Senate report, pp. 1–2.
- ^ "Congressional Record, June 6, 1936, pp. 9158–9159".
- ^ "Congressional Record, June 16, 1936, p. 9643".
- ^ Flynn, p. 356.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 227–228.
- ^ Flynn, p. 321.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen, p. 218.
- ^ Taxay, p. 228.
- ^ Taxay, pp. 228–231.
- ^ Slabaugh, p. 398.
- ^ Smith, p. 181.
- ^ a b Vermeule, p. 202.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen, p. 217.
- ^ Bair, p. 49.
- ^ Slabaugh, p. 399.
- ^ Slabaugh, p. 142.
- ^ a b c Bair, p. 50.
- ^ Vermeule, pp. 202–203.
- ^ a b Flynn, p. 158.
- ^ "Sale of the Roanoke coin still in progress". The Numismatist. 50 (5): 409. May 1937.
- ^ Bullowa, p. 174.
- ^ Bowers, p. 416.
- ^ Bowers, pp. 71, 418.
Sources
- Bair, Bob (May 2021). "A Tale of three commemorative half dollars". The Numismatist. 134 (5): 46–53.
- ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
- Bullowa, David M. (1938). "The Commemorative Coinage of the United States 1892–1938". Numismatic Notes and Monographs (83). New York: JSTOR 43607181. (subscription required)
- 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: ISBN 978-0-307-09377-6.
- Smith, Pete (February 1998). "Commem marks Raleigh's failed colony". The Numismatist. 111 (2): 181–182.
- 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– via Congressional ProQuest.(subscription required)
- United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency (June 2, 1936). Coins in Commemoration of the Three Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary Birth of Virginia Dare, etc – via Congressional ProQuest. (subscription required)
- ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
- ISBN 978-0-7948-4705-0.
External links
- Media related to Roanoke Colony half dollar at Wikimedia Commons