Hello everyone! I am very new to collecting and I am currently trying to learn as much as I can about the hobby. My dad recently gave me his coin collection he had when he was younger. I am now going through the collection coin by coin to see what he has. These are from that collection. All comments and tips welcome! ------------------------------ I recently uncovered these from my Dad's collection and thought they were cool. I'm not 100% sure why they were made though. They look like they were just commemerative coins to me. What do you think? "Columbian Half Dollar" (Obverse) (Reverse) "Patriot Half Dollar" (Obverse) (Reverse)
A quick lookup in the red book reveals that the second coin is the lexington-concord sesquicentennial commemorative. There were only 162,013 ever made. I recommend you buy yourself the official red book a guide book of united states coins 2015 68th edition.
Welcome to the forum Reino and you've two nice commem's there. I'd go with AU on the Columbian and XF on the Lexington-Concord. These two coins are what we like to refer to as 'Classic Commemoratives'. They were issued to commemorate a certain event or occurrence or even an individual and the sales of the coins were used to help defray the costs involved therein. Google Columbian Exposition and see what 'pops'. Sage advice from Josh. The Red Book is a 'must have' for any new collector. Check out the local public library as they will have a few copies in the reference department but you can also find older copies in the stacks which you can take out on loan. Of course, you'll probably want your own copy and most book stores have 'em in stock. It's a very affordable volume ($12-$18) and probably one of the cheapest books you'll ever add to your numismatic library..........but one of the most important.
First off, WELCOME to the Boards!!! Remember, the most important thing to do while collecting coins is just to have fun. Along those lines, if you do get interested in the field, I would STRONGLY recommend that you only spend disposable income on coins that you purchase. That way you keep it as a fun hobby. It's great that you have some coins from your Dad. The two imaged look like nice circulated coins. You have 2 silver Classic Commemoratives (CC). CC were minted from 1892 to 1954. If you were to build a set of 1 of each design type there would be 50 coins in the set. If your were to build a set of every date and mintmark there would be 144 coins in the set. I see written on your second coin's holder 1725 - 1925. The Lexington you have is a sesquicentennial. A sesquicentennial means 150 years, so the coin in this case celebrates 150 years since the battle(s) of Lexington-Concord in 1775. I strongly support Josh's suggestion to get a Red Book. It is a compact and extremely informative introduction to US coins. I hope you have many years of enjoyment in collecting coins!!!
A very cool start. I have the Rhode Island one and it has a personal connection as I often see the statue of our founder that the commemorative coins paid for.
Sounds like a pretty cool coin Yankee42! Would you mind posting a picture of it? I just think it would be cool to see!
Welcome Reino98, The "Stone Mountain" comm. is a popular one and relatively easy to accquire & not too expensive.
Welcome Reino! Really awesome that your Dad gave you his collection. Hopefully this is something you two can continue in together and will leave you with a lot of great memories. Like others have said, your first book likely ought to be the Red Book. I wish I had bought it when I first started out. Now if your interested in Commemoratives there is a guide book for them also. It's called "A Guide Book of U.S. Commemorative Coins" by Q. David Bowers. Available from Whitman Publishing, Amazon, etc. and it's about twenty dollars. I've never read it, but I have a couple Whitman books and they've all been very good. Edit: Just to be clear, Commemoratives are covered in the Red Book. The guide book I suggested goes into deeper discussion of the Commemoratives.
That Lex-Concord is a very nice commemorative, and somewhat scarce. The Colombian really isn't, but was my first coin, and as such holds a somewhat special place in my collection. Notice that Jpcienkus' coin is dated 1892, while yours is an 1893. They minted this one for two years. The 1892 coins are lower mintage, and a little harder to find.
It happens more often than you'd think. To answer your initial question, there used to be a Commemorative Coin Program where organizations or even individuals could submit requests for certain Commemorative Coins to be issued by the US Mint. The requestor submitted the design and outlined what was being commemorated. If approved, the coin would be created and then released to the requesting organization who would then sell the coins at a profit to, more or less, support their organizations goals or the celebrations financially. Along the lines of a souvenir coin. For example, PCGS Coins Facts states: "The 1936-S Oakland Bay Bridge half dollar has the unique distinction of being the first and possibly the only commemorative half dollar available for sale at a drive-up window. Examples were offered for sale to automobilists who visited toll booths at each end of the famous span." The programs was very active and in some years, quite a few coins were produced. Some were even produced over several years from multiple branch mints. However, as greedy as it gets, the program was full of corruption with certain individuals submitting requests for "non-existant" celebrations. Continuing to quote from PCGS CoinFacts: "Some commemorative issues turned into a veritable annuity for their issuers, none more so than the Daniel Boone half dollars sold by C. Frank Dunn, whose office was in an upstairs room in the Hotel Phoenix in Lexington, Kentucky. Dunn distributed Daniel Boone half dollars in 1934, ostensibly to commemorate the bicentennial of the famous explorer's birth. Not satisfied to let it go at that, he decided to keep celebrating the situation, and was able to create not one coin, but a set of three coins from three different mints in 1935. As if that were not enough, still more varieties were made for the year 1935, bearing the small date "1934" on the reverse. Additional Boone sets were minted from 1936 through 1938. All of this poured thousands of dollars into Dunn's pockets, amid outcries from collectors who on one hand complained about the inequities of such profiteering, but on the other hand considered their holdings incomplete if they did not own, for example, a rare 1935-D Boone half dollar with small "1934" on the reverse, not available any longer from Dunn, for these had been "sold out" at an early date, but obtainable only on the open market for multiples of the original issue price." "Oregon Trail half dollars, first issued in 1926, turned into another scandal, and by the time the last Oregon half dollars were produced in 1939, just about everyone was thoroughly disgusted with them, with the possible exception of Wayte Raymond (acting for J.W. Scott & Co.), distributor of certain of the later issues. Raymond, by the way, was a professional numismatist of great reputation, and certainly one of the most influential and most important dealers of our century." As such, the program was terminated after 1954. The Commemorative Coin program was revised in 1982 and later revised again to limit the number of coins which could be issued in a single year thanks to the Olympic Events held in the country where some years had more commemorative coins available than people wanted. Under the same type of program, profits from these coins serve the organizations or events which sponsor the coins. In the event that ot enough coins are sold to cover the design and production costs, the US Mint has the ability to NOT forward the profits to the sponsoring organization. The Recent Girl Scouts of America Commemorative Coin was just such a coin as GSA didn't receive any of the profits from the coin. Or so I've heard. At any rate, the United Stated Commemorative Coin Program(s) have a lot of different coins which cover 1892 to present times. Each coin has a story and some of the coins are extremely pleasing design. Others, not so much. Where you go from here is up to you.
