Congratulations to the winner of my 1,000th Post Contest for the Worst Early US Commemorative Coin . . . Jay wins a copy of the recently-released Whitman 'A Guide Book of United States Commemorative Coins'. Jay's entry was well thought out and addressed most of the points I was looking for: unattractive design, unknown event being commemorated, date of issue does not correspond with any anniversary, the coin was issued after the celebrations were over, the statue to be built from the funds raised by selling the coins was not built until over six decades later (a minor detail that you missed by the way), etc. Early US Commemorative Coins are very interesting. In the beginning most of the events being commemorated and the causes that benefited from the coins were for the most part legitimate. But over time, as greedy people realized there was money to be made from having a commemorative coin authorized or becoming the sole distributor of the coins, collectors became more and more upset with the program. The abuse reached a peak in 1936 (not coincidentally the year of issue of the Elgin Half Dollar). After 1936 fewer and fewer commemorative coins were authorized and the last early commemorative half dollar (Washington/Carver) was minted in 1954. Jay - PM me with your name and address. I will mail your book on Wednesday.
You don't see all that many coins with men with beards... Someone should start a "men with beards on coins" pic post thread
