Wow! I have been a member of Coin Talk for only 3 months and I am making my 1,000th post. To mark this momentous occasion I have decided to conduct my first contest. One thing I collect is early US Commemorative half dollars. (In reality, I study these coins more than collect them.) These Commems are very interesting and educational. Some are very attractive. Some are ugly. A few are downright odd. Here is how my contest works: Select what you think is the Worst Early US Commemorative Coin (1892 - 1954). Eligible coins include half dollars as well as the Isabella Quarter, Lafayette Dollar, and gold commems. Your selection may be the Worst Early US Commemorative Coin because: the coin has an ugly design the coin commemorates a relatively unknown event the date of issue of the coin does not coincide with an anniversary of the commemorated event the person(s) depicted on the coin has (have) no connection to the commemorated event a building, ship, etc. is incorrectly depicted on the coin the coins were not distributed fairly the series abused the process by running for too many years the series abused the process by having numerous varieties (e.g., 'With Star' and 'Without Star', 2*2, 2X2, 'Pioneer Year', etc.), low mintages from multiple mints, etc. any other reason Explain in detail why you think your selection is the Worst Early US Commemorative Coin. Please limit submittals to no more than 2 per entrant. The person who makes the most convincing argument will be the winner. I will be the sole judge of the winning entry. This contest ends at Noon MDT (2 PM EDT) Thursday April 3. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter. The winner will receive a copy of the recently-released Whitman 'A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins' ($19.95 MSRT). If you have never really studied the Early US Commems now would be a good time to start. Even if you don't win this nice book you might just learn something. Let the contest begin.
36 did seem like an artisticlly deprived year. Especially the Bridgeport, Connecticut, Centinial coin. First of all, the stylized eagle on the reverse is a horrible rendition of the previous year's art deco style eagle on the 35 Connecticut Tercentenary coin. On the 36 version, it looks like a hood ornament and the tail trailing off the rim is distracting. Second, I realise P. T. Barnum was a native son to Conn, but where they really that hard up in finding appropritae citizens to place on the city's Centenial coinage? Barnum was an interesting man to say the least, but what did he contribute to the city's overall success? I think many today see him as a sheister who exploited the misfortunate to make a profit. Well, I guess thats my take on the worst early commemorative. Ugly reverse design and odd choice of people to grace the obverse. Guy~
I'll put up my 1st entry right now! No thinking required for this one, i was waiting for a place to rant about this ... 1936 Elgin Illinois Commem. This has got to be one of the most pointless issues in the history of the numismatic world (my apologies to all resident of Elgin, IL). The points: 1) Founded in 1835 apparently... the commem missed by 1 year (1936)... 101st anniversary celebrations anyone? 2) From what I read, the money from the coin was meant to build a statue for the celebrations, also from what I have read, it was completed a few months AFTER the celebrations were over. 3) They minted 25000 coins for a city that today holds about 100,000 people... divide by 4, means we have one coin per family today! I have no idea what the population was in 1936 but I strongly doubt it was even close to 6 figures (which can give atleast a little justification for some of the other commems of 1936)... On the bright side, most people know Elgin, IL only due to this coin... 4) The only time I was looking at info regarding this coin, I never saw the womans's face... Till today I still havent seen the womans face on the coin (the 3rd statue)...is it the 3rd sighting of the faceless monster of Lake Michigan? No jokes, she looks like a ghost. 5) And the obverse! The man pictured is obviously a mutant crocodile. Nothing else can explain the chin which someone once told me was either a beard or problematic acne. 6) The date at the bottom shows 1673-1936. This is 263 years... The question is what happened in 1673? Is it something important enough to celebrate the 263rd anniversary of it? All in all it has a poor design, shows nothing about the city except for something that was ABOUT to be constructed, has random dates on the coin, was badly struck and has pretty much no justification for being made in the 1st place. Another point of interest... Elgin became a city in 1854 according to Wikipedia, so I assume it was founded in 1835. So they celebrate the founding. Fine. Bridgeport was founded in ???? and was incorporated in 1836. So they celebrated their incorporation in 1936. So if you can celebrate your founding, incorporation and 263rd anniversaries for towns of populations less than 50000, I can come up with 8 coins to commemorate events this year for Barberton, OH (a suburb of Akron, OH which is almost a suburb of Cleveland,OH) I'm off now to get this approved from congress.... Edit: I found out just now that it was Illinios that was explored in 1673... still funny to put that on the coin...
I'm going to have to go with the 1936 Columbia, South Carolina Sesquicentennial half dollar as the most boring, ugly & useless Comm coin made to date. How many of you know what Columbia's sesquicentennial is or even care? The death-like figure of "Justice" on the obverse looks like she stepped out of the film, "The night of the living dead," On the reverse is the totally boring Palmetto tree. The only thing that tree is supposedly good for is the leaves are purported to help with enlarged prostate problems. And they don't work, it;s a fraud. Is that important to you? The real problem is that this states' tree doesn't do diddley. It stands there all droopy and represents the ennui of Columbia, SC. This coin should win this WORST commem coin ever made contest because it is the worst, and it's an ugly coin to boot. PS: I was trying to be nice here! Bruce
hehe, I lived in San Fransisco some time back, I don't think the bay bridge deserved a commemortaive more than any other bridge in existance! Sigh.
Ugliest Commem 1) 1936 Cincinnati Music Center . -It's only redeeming feature is that it is fairly rare. Otherwise, It has a shallow, boring obverse design. The coins are rarely struck fully and its commemoration was created out of whole cloth as a money maker for some speculators. BTW, to the Elgin bashers out there....they finally got around to actually erecting the founders statue within the past five years.....I guess good things take time.:goof:
the 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar. where to start with this coin. this coin was the idea of a Reverend from the federal council of churchs of Christ in America for a fundraiser. Second the both men that are on the obverse had nothing to do with what the coin was commerating( William the Silent and Admiral Coligny. they both had died long before 1624. many believed this coin was a fraud just to raise money for a church by the government. whats really sad is that this was the great engraver's George Morgan's last coin he designed Thanks for the contest!
The Maine Centennial.....a fishermen leaning on a shield with a pine tree and a Bullwinkle on it, and the reverse? Would you actually call that a reverse?
I will select a winner and post his name soon. Sorry for the delay but I have been especially busy lately.
Check my new thread for the winner. Thanks to everyone who entered. I hope my little contest made one or two people take a closer look at early US Commemorative coins.
