George Washington silver half dollar commerative.

Something I came across. Still hermetically sealed with box and paperwork.

 

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And the front.

 

A bit better pic...

 

US mint stopped making commemorative half dollars in 1954 (I think; someone will correct me if that's wrong). They resumed commemorative halves in 1982 with the coin you have. Fairly high mintage. I've always thought it's a nice looking coin, although Washington's head seems disproportionately small in relation to the rest of him.

 

This was the mint's first tentative step in getting back into issuing commemorative coins. The facility issued large numbers of them so it's not a valuable piece. It is made of 90% silver which is a plus. You have an Uncirculated piece. They were also issued in Proof.



After this, the flood gates opened and the mint started issuing more commemorative coins than many collectors wanted.

 

The horse's head looks big, too. I am sure Elizabeth Jones doesn't think so. It is a pretty coin, though. Found a Mt Rushmore one, too. All in box with paperwork.

 

George's head on this coin has always reminded me of this:

 

Uncirculated version

 

Remember perspective. The horses head would be closer to the viewer and SHOULD be larger.

 

As a kid growing up, and reading the Red Book, I longed for a day when commem's would be reinstated on the mints' list of available items. With this issue of the 'Washington', my hopes were happily fulfilled..........now there's too bloody many of the danged things.

 

Yes, I used to keep up with them, but now I have given up. Like the old days (1892 to 1954), some of them should never have been issued because the topic was not worthy.

 

Cincinnati, Great Lakes, and Hudson come to mind....

 

ive got that same coin. i always like it because George was riding a horse

 

One of the problems was that the New York State congressional delegation was large and powerful. They got commemorative half dollars authorized for places like New Rochelle and Hudson that should only have been town medals.

To make matters worse, unethical coin dealers got control of the mintages for pieces like the Hudson and Cincinnati and bilked collectors. The abuses helped to ruin and suspend the old commemorative series.

 

If you check the "Sold" prices on eBay you'll see the price range is between $10 and $25.

 

Interesting. I just searched sold listings for this coin and filtered the search based on lowest price first. I had to scroll through 16 sales before getting to one that reached $10.

 

You mean 16 pages? lol

 

Nope. Didn't need nearly that many examples to know if I wanted to buy this coin I'd be a fool to pay over $10.

Plenty of PCGS & NGC certified examples for < $20 as well.

 

Nice looking coins, I've got two. Only worth melt, though.

 

Maybe just ever-so-slightly...but he was not the big-headed type so no harm/foul.