A little study on mid 1900's C. Smith so called half dollars and other medals

I have a complete set of 8 that I have in 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 round window holders and a Wayte Raymond Album page that is in pretty nice shape to go with them. I opted not to use the album page but keep it along with these medals. There were no others in this set.

Charles F. Smith was a Boston coin dealer. I don't believe he was a big dealer.

At the time Smith's medals were issued, the US Congress was putting an end to US commemorative half dollar coins. Smith may have believed he could fill a void in the marketplace by creating commemorative medals that were roughly the same size. Smith's medals were slightly larger at 32 mm in diameter to avoid running afoul of the US Government.

The Battle of Lexington, the Daniel Boone, the Lindbergh, the Antarctic Expedition and the Pony Express pieces were all originally issued prior to 1947; Whitehead and Hoag re-struck these medals for Smith from the dies they had used in prior years.

1947 c.smith So-called Half Dollars


Wayte Raymond Album Page



1948 c.smith So-called Half Dollars

Four so-called half dollars that were minted in 1948 for collectors by Charles Smith of Boston Massachusetts. These are far less encountered than the 8 medal in the set of 1947. These commemorate subjects of the 50th Anniversary of The Spanish American War of 1898. I have put together three sets of these. One is shown in a 1960's Capital Plastics or type holder.





There are Four Bronze medals by Charles F. Smith.
Three issues in circa 1950 by American Commemorative Society, trade name of late Charles F. Smith, Boston, MA.
These were designed and engraved by J. R. Pinches, and probably struck by Pinches in London. These are considered So-Called Dollars in the Hibler-Kappen catalog.

They are:
HK-506 Paul Revere Dollar
HK-506a Telephone Diamond Jubilee Dollar
HK-506b Middlebury College Dollar

I only have one of the three at this time. I see the other two maybe once a year but am not interested in forking out several hundred dollars to complete this 3 medal set but I did get the most elusive of the three here.

HK-506 1950 Paul Revere Dollar
Less than 250 of this medal were minted.



Another even more rare medal is mentioned but not assigned an HK number on the So-Called Dollars website, probably because it exceeds the size requirements.

1952 (circa) Benjamin Franklin - American Patriots Series
Anniversary of Kite Flying



This is an elusive medal. I would not be surprised if it had the lowest mintage of these American Commemorative Society Charles F. Smith issues. Are there more? I do not know.
Should it be designated as So-Called Dollar HK-506c? Probably not. Since it is 50 mm in diameter though, it does not meet So-Called Dollar requirements. The Hibler and Kappen book defined so-called dollars this way:
Had to be United States only.
Minimum diameter - Size 21 (1-5/16 inch or 33mm).
Maximum diameter - Size 28 (1-3/4 inch or 45mm); but silver Bryan Dollars are listed. No holed or looped material unless struck plain also.
Our Nos. 1 to HK-3 are the sole exceptions.
No plastic, fiber or similar material unless issued also in one or more metals.
No purely presidential or political medals.
No school, college or athletic medals; no coin club or U.S. Armed Forces medals.
No calendar or store cards; no trade tokens or emergency money.

This size might explain why it was minted in Holland. Perhaps London declined to make it this size and Charles F. Smith had to look elsewhere to have these larger medals minted? I have never seen another.

This came to me in a box which I would imagine has to be original to the medal.



Now, a couple side notes on the 1947 and 1948 so called half dollars shown up top.

Some of these can be found in bronze and/or gilt bronze.

I don't have them all but have managed to find these.

PONY EXPRESS DIAMOND JUBILEE 1860-1935 gilt
LINDBERGH - NY TO PARIS 1927 gilt
LINDBERGH - NY TO PARIS 1927 bronze
R. BYRD ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1928-1930 gilt
T. EDISON CENTENNIAL 1847-1947 gilt and bronze. (bronze shown below in last image)
plus an unusual
1948 WILLIAM T.SAMPSON 1898-1948 gilt


Finally, I discovered that the same Edison obverse appeared with various reverses.
I have no idea how many there could be.



The center medal is from my 1947 c.smith 8 pc set. This collage is a collection of nine medals that share the same obverse die that I have assembled.
I would estimate that in rarity, the least often seen of these below is the Central Illinois Light Co. and second would probably be Roland Electrical Company from Baltimore MD. or the Primary Batteries issue. The next least found might be the General Electric.

They include:

1939 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Edison Primary Batteries 50 years 1889-1939
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Crescent Temple Trenton NJ
1947 Thomas A. Edison Gilt Salaam Temple Newark NJ
1947 Thomas A. Edison Copper-Nickel (c.smith) Centennial 1847-1947
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Centennial 1847-1947
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Centennial 1847-1947
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Centennial General Electric Co. Lamp Dept
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Centennial Roland Electrical Co. Baltimore
1947 Thomas A. Edison Bronze Central Illinois Light Co.

I am always on the lookout for another reverse discovery. If there are more to find, they are hiding in a good place.

If you read this far and can comment or add any information PLEASE DO!
Thanks for letting me share these.

 

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WARNING! Reproductions of the top two medals on the left in the OP are on Ebay.

 

Insider:

Would you want to elaborate on reproductions? All but the last two Confederate 1947 and four 1948 were issued previously by Whitehead & Hoag prior to c.smith issues. If you know of recent copies I'd like to know more. Post a picture of a repro if possible.

 

Interesting items, and visually appealing.
Never knew such things existed.

Well done.

 

I'm a little disturbed that it took me close to an hour to compose the first post and probably took 15 seconds to post the following vague warning comment.

I'm not asking for links to be posted here.
I'd welcome an educational picture of a reproduction. I can only assume
"Reproductions of the top two medals on the left in the OP are on Ebay."
Which two? I can only guess. Send me a message with reproduction eBay c.smith item links please. I'll buy one and determine what is repro about it, then follow up here with my findings.
I can assure you, the medals I posted above here are not reproductions.

I did write:
The Battle of Lexington, the Daniel Boone, the Lindbergh, the Antarctic Expedition and the Pony Express pieces were all originally issued prior to 1947; Whitehead and Hoag re-struck these medals for Smith from the dies they had used in prior years.

I suppose we could say that c.smith himself issued his reproductions of previous issues (in white metal) back in 1947.

As for a "Warning:"
Anyone could go to most any key, semi key, and many common US and countless other World coins posts on CoinTalk and warn readers that there are reproductions, copies and fakes of them, but why?

 

I remember a time when you could buy this page with the coins for almost nothing.

 

I love this kind of stuff