George Washington Death Bicentennial $5 Gold This is one of my favorite sets from the mint and one of my all time favorite coins. Below is an excerpt from Q. David Bowers book, A Guide Book of US Commemorative Coins: "Congress authorized the minting of a $5 commemorative gold coin to observe the 200th anniversary of Washington's death (Dec 14, 1799). The legislation included what many called a pork barrel provision - $10 from each coin sale would go to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association, which cares for Washington's home today. There is no question that the organization is a fine one. The problem is that collectors dislike being forced to donate to this or any other cause when buying coins." Continuing: " The obverse and reverse motifs were adapted from models created by Laura Gardin Fraser and submitted for consideration during the development of the Washington quarter dollar in 1932. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew W. Mellon rejected her design in favor of one by John Flanagan. Many artists and some numismatists at the time said Fraiser's art would have been the better choice." Also Noted: Obverse: the portrait of Washington inspired by the bust modeled in 1785 for French sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon. Reverse: a perched eagle with feathers widely separated at left and right. Mintage: Authorized on Oct 20, 1996, part of the US Commemorative Coin Act of 1996. Max allowed - 100,000 both formats combined. Total minted at West Point - Proof - 41,693 and UNC - 22,511. If you collect commemorative coins, this book is a must have. Hope you enjoyed the info and pics.
The premiums collecting on basically every commemorative coin is designated to go somehwere... usually some organization related to the person or event the coin commemorates (for example, a portion of the 2007 Desegregation Dollar premiums went to the organization that preserves Little Rock Central High School as a historic site.) Collectors aren't forced to donate to the cause... they can always just not by the coin... but the original sale of commemorative coins has always gone to some organization. That was, and mostly still is, the whole point in minting commemoratives in the first place: as a fundraising tool. Seems silly that any collectors would object to this specific act of fundraising when every commoerative was designed to raise money for something... Nice coin. I remember in 1999 (watched it on C-SPAN) that Mt. Vernon did a complete recreation of Washington's funeral to mark the 200th anniversary of his death... done in extremely accurate detail, even to the point of Martha just looking out the window of the house and not coming down to attend the funeral in person. Interesting thing to see.
This is my first post on this coin from a while back. http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=34812&highlight=washington+gold+error
