Columbian or AMERICAN (or both?)

Gettin popcorn stuck between your teeth watching the cubs play.......dosent get any better.........

 

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watching the cubs lose to the reds in great american ballpark... yeah, it gets better. GO REDS. (sorry to everyone. i have derailed this thread!)

 

You couldn't o' done it without me Swish........

 

i'm beginning to think you're my "separated at birth twin"

 

I'm quite a fan of the Columbian Exposition Half Dollars, I've got a low (VG IMO) Mid (XF) and a higher mid (AU) Columbian exposition half dollar but I am still looking for a 1892 that fetches my fancy. The three I have are all 1893. The thing that catches my eye about these classic commemoratives is that they were meant to circulate in the US as regular change. Much like the Bicentennial coinage in 1976. Here's a few of mine:

 

Thanks for the info CazKaboom, The top one is a really nice example. Just a bit more trivia for everyone. If you were standing in line at the expo in 1893 to purchase one of these, how much do you think it would have cost at the time? (It must have sold
for more than 50 cents being a commemorative)

 

According to the Red Book, these sold for $1.00 each. Later, the unsold pieces were released into circulation.

 

And just to show that commemoratives have always been the Rodney Dangerfields of US coinage, here are some prices from the 2009 Krause North American Coins & Prices:[TABLE="align: center"]Type/year/mintMintageAU50MS60Barber 1892-p 935245 $295$450 1892-o 390000 $690$850 1892-s1029028 $700$940Columbian 1892 950000$18.50 $28 18931550405$18.50 $28[/TABLE]So, the next time somebody invites you along on a trip back in time to the Columbian Exposition, be sure to take along as many MS60 Columbian halves as you can get, and offer to sell them for FACE VALUE, just HALF the going price -- as long as you receive as payment an equally new "regular" half dollar.

 

Boy ,What a slap in the ole face for poor columbus. Wonder how all these state
commemoratives will fair in the next 200 years (sure are enough of them).