Featured A Brief History of the Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar

Every United States commemorative coin has a story to tell, but the history surrounding the 1925 Stone Mountain half dollar is one of the most interesting tales in U.S. numismatics. The legislation that authorized this coin rekindled a debate that had started before the end of the Civil War, and the project that it partially funded would remain incomplete for more than 30 years.

The Daughters of the Confederacy Initiate the Project

Mrs. Helen Plane was a charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). For some years, she supported an idea to establish a Confederate monument at Stone Mountain, which is located 15 miles northeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Her plan called for a 70 foot high statue of Robert E. Lee that would be carved into the side of the mountain.

In 1915, after she was elected president of the Atlanta chapter of the UDC, Mrs. Plane convinced other members of the group to ask sculptor Gutzon Borglum to do a feasibility study. Borglum reported to the ladies that a 70 foot statue on Stone Mountain “would look like a postage stamp on a barn.” The artist told them that an appropriate project would cost $3.5 million and would take ten years to complete. Borglum drew some sketches and presented his ideas at a UDC meeting.

Although some UDC members were horrified at the cost of the project, others worked to make it a reality. In 1916 the owners of Stone Mountain granted a conditional deed to the UDC for the face of the mountain and ten acres of land around it. The site would become the property of the UDC if the organization completed a suitable monument within 12 years. The following year, the UDC chartered an independent organization, the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association, to manage the project.



The Project Faces Obstacles from the Beginning

The Stone Mountain project was in trouble from the start. Before work could begin, the United States entered World War I. During the war all nonessential activities were curtailed, and the project was delayed until 1923. After the project began, Borglum found more challenges than he had imagined. No one had ever attempted a sculpture this large before, and even drawing an outline of the figures on the face of the mountain posed significant technical difficulties.

Borglum’s original plan had called for three main statues: Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, all on horseback. Behind them and around the mountain, the plan called for depictions of other southern Civil War heroes, including the average foot soldier. Plans also called for a Memorial Hall to be carved into the base of mountain and an amphitheater at the base of the site that would be as large as the Roman Coliseum.

Helen Plane, the honorary life president of the UDC, represented the dark side of the project. She sympathized with the KKK and concept of pushing for the monument to become a symbol for “the lost cause.” She suggested including a small group of Klansmen in the design “in their nightly uniform approaching from the distance.” Fortunately, her ideas were ignored although a resurgent KKK was in the mix to get the project started.

The Project Begins

By January 1924 Borglum’s men had carved Robert E. Lee’s head into the side of the mountain. On January 19 a group of dignitaries, including the governors from several southern states, held a luncheon on a banquet table set on top of Lee’s hat, which was indication of the size of the work.

The UDC held many find raising events to finance the project. These events ranged from bake sales to gala balls at which participants contributed money and made pledges. In the mean time members of the UDC contacted President Calvin Coolidge to solicit his support for a commemorative half dollar that would be sold to raise funds for the project. Coolidge embraced the project, and Congress approved the legislation although not without difficulty. Feelings still ran high about the Civil War. The final legislation stated that the half dollar would honor the contributions of southern soldiers for their service during the Spanish – American and First World Wars, BUT NOT the Civil War. In addition the half dollar would also honor the memory of President Warren G. Harding who had recently died.



The bill that authorized the Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar also honored the memory of the late president, Warren G. Harding. Above is a political pin from the 1920 campaign.

Gutzon Borglum designed the coin although he had considerable difficulty getting Fine Arts Commission to approve of his work. Only Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson appeared on the coin because Jefferson Davis was still a pariah to many in the North. The authorized mintage was 5 million pieces, which was a very high number for a commemorative coin. Ultimately the mint struck 2.3 million pieces, but 1 million of those pieces were returned and melted leaving a still healthy net mintage of 1.3 million coins.



A preliminary design by Borglum of the Stone Mountain Half Dollar. Note that it included a notation in the memory of the late President, Warren G. Harding.



The finished design of the Stone Mountain Commemorative Half Dollar

Borglum Departs

In the mean time Borglum was having problems with the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association. The association was not paying him in a timely manner and there were complaints that he was not supervising the project properly. Borglum had a thin skin and was more than willing to talk to newspaper reporters to make his complaints public. He charged that the association head, Hollis Randolph, was misusing and misappropriating funds. This very public argument became heated, and Borglum resigned. The artist smashed his models and left Georgia with the police hot on his trail.


Artist Augustus Lukeman faced an impossible challenge.

The Project Comes to a Feeble Finish

The association hired Augustus Lukeman to continue the project. Lukeman is best known to coin collectors has the artist who designed the Boone commemorative half dollar. Lukeman restarted the project as he blasted the face of Robert E. Lee off the mountain and began his own interpretation of the work.

Lukeman’s work in the mountain did not go well. One observer stated that Lukeman’s Robert E. Lee did not look like the general. Lee’s nose was crooked; his left arm appeared to be withered and paralyzed; the hilt of his sword was missing; and the stirrup of his saddle was missing. In 1930 Lukeman abandoned the project and title to the land reverted to its original owners.

Borglum’s Reputation Rises as Monument Association’s Standing Collapses

In the coming years Gutzon Borglum’s reputation was restored among the people of the South while association chairman, Hollis Randolph’s, reputation slid off into the gutter. An audit of the Stone Mountain Confederate Monumental Association revealed that Randolph had spent more on events and personal travel expenses than on the carving of the figures into the mountain. Borglum offered to finish the project and there was talk of borrowing money from Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression era Reconstruction Finance Corporation to fund it, but nothing came from those ideas. Gutzon Borglum would win lasting fame from his work at Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota which has become one of our nation’s most imposing landmarks.



The Stone Mountain Monument as it looked cira 1961 after the State of Georgia bought the mountain and the land around it for future development.

The State of Georgia Steps Takes Charge

In 1958 the Georgia Legislature funded the purchase of the Stone Mountain site and 3,200 acres around it. In 1963 Walker Kirkland Hancock, a Gloucester, Massachusetts sculptor, was selected to re-design the monument. Working with a small crew headed by contractor, Roy Faulkner, the monument was completed and dedicated on May 9, 1970. Faulkner’s crew used a thermojet torch that carved out the details of the monument with temperatures that reached 4,000 degrees. It was said that one craftsman with the thermojet torch could do the work of 48 men with hammers and chisels.

Today the Stone Mountain Memorial is the centerpiece of a growing complex of recreational facilities that has become a source of pride and revenue for the Atlanta, Georgia area. Although none of Gutzon Borglum’s original work remains, the commemorative half dollar he designed and the pioneering artwork that he attempted at Stone Mountain remain as a significant achievement in the eyes of coin collectors and historians.



Artists used Thermojet blow torches instead of hammers and chisels to carve the monument in the early 1970s.



The monument as it looks today.

 

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Nice article. I was at the University of Georgia from 1967 til 1972 and was able to watch the workmen carving on the statues.

 

Thanks, John. The Stone Mountain half is one of my favorite classic commemoratives, in spite of the fact that I'm a "Northerner," born and bred in Minnesota.

Steve

 

Great article; thanks for posting it.

 

I actually prefer the preliminary version to the one actually adopted; anyone else in the same boat?

 

Why bother cluttering it up by mentioning Harding, who had nothing to do with the fund raiser except the Congressional log rolling? I think that it’s way too wordy.

 

..kool, i'd like to have one...

 

There was some guy with his own booth at FUN selling a book about Stone Mountain or the coin....forget which. Some kind of controversey or something. I wanted to explore it more but was pressed for time,

 

Good stuff!

 

I think @HawkeEye might be able to help with finding that book/author.

Steve

 

Agreed. If you want to honor Harding, do it on a separate coin. Omnibus commemoratives are a worse sin than omnibus bills.

 

There are a number of books out there and people tend to choose sides and forget the coin collecting part. Things get way too politicized these days, even with coins. The best book out is the new one on the counterstamped varieties. Two volumes and I think about 1,600 pages or so. There was more information than you could digest in a lifetime. I am not trying to push the book and have no financial interest in it, but it will be the authoritative reference for years to come. https://counterstamped-stone-mountain-coins.com/

 

Just remembered, I found a book written by the family of the man who did the final carving. He never carved anything before or since and it is an interesting read. from my perspective it says that there are a lot of geniuses out there that live among us and we never know it.