Well, here's one of the biggies I was missing. Very nice coin, and a very important subject matter. I normally don't go on much about eye appeal, but I do think this one has some eye appeal. Feel free to post anything relevant.
It's one of my favorites out there with Oregon Trail, Pan Pac, Texas, Connecticut, and Delaware. There's others that are high priced jewels in the type set like Spanish Trail and Hawaii which I honestly don't like as much despite their price tags.
I bought this MS-65 many years ago, right after the market collasped cira 1990. It's in an old "fatty" NGC holder.
I may have to pick one of those up one day, if only because the spot it commemorates is just a few miles from my first home.
Here is a photo I took of Burnside's Bridge, which is shown on the reverse of the Antietam commemorative half dollar. I stood on the spot with the coin in my hand to catch the right angle. The tree, which was moved to the other side for the coin has been called "the oldest survivor of the battle." It was there when Burnside foolishly concentrated all of his efforts to attack the remaining Confederates by crossing the bridge. His men could have easily forded the river a short distance from the bridge. The Antietam commemorative was issued at a time when almost all of the coins were sold to collectors who carefully preserved them. Therefore most all of them will grade at least in MS-63 or better. The coin is actually rare in the circulated grades.
