Hey i just purchased this coin today for 15 bucks and thought it was a nice piece. However I can not find much info on this coin. So, I am hoping that you all could help. As far as I know they were some of the first commemorative coins of Columbus. But I can't be sure. What do you think about the coin. Sorry for the low quality camera shots.
If you got access to the Internet and Google, try searching for "Colombian half dollar 1893". One of about 127000 results will be this article, which gives plenty of information: http://www.coinweek.com/commemoratives/1892-1893-columbian-exposition-half-dollar/
The most common and least expensive of the commerative half dollars, with circulated examples selling at melt or slightly above. Still, a nice piece of history.
It's a must have for all early commemorative collectors because it is one of the 1st commemoratives . They were issued for The Chicago Columbian Expo in 1892 and 1893 along with the Isabella quarter . Nice classic you have there .
You did good. Nice coin. Its the 2nd American commemorative coin ever made the first one being the same coin dated 1892.
Cool thanks! I stopped by a local coin dealer my brother knew about. It immediately caught my attention. Was different from all the Morgan's and Ben Franklin halves in the display. I'm glad I bought it. It's a beautiful coin and reminds me of the italian 500 lira 1957-1959.
Nice buy! I like picking them out from the rest of the junk silver at coin shows just because they're older and more interesting than the rest.
I especially like the reverse on that coin and it was the first classic commemorative I ever experienced up close and personal. My Dad introduced one to me when I was a wee lad........
"The Philadelphia Mint began production of 1893-dated Columbian Commemorative Halves on January 3 of that year. A grand total of 4,052,105 pieces were produced (including 2,105 coins for assay purposes), but sales were nowhere near the levels hoped for by government officials. The Mint destroyed all of the unsold coins. That amounted to 2,501,700 coins which were melted."[FONT=Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif] [/FONT] [FONT=Helvetica, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif]In 1892 only 950,000 were minted[/FONT]
I'm not sure of those destruction numbers. A lot of these coins were released into the wild (circulation) as evidenced by many well worn examples......
These coins are just beautiful when they are heavily toned, especially the ship. I don't care for the white graded ones, too plain looking without the rainbows.
