Why is the First U.S. Commemorative not more Highly Desired by Collectors?

The first commemorative coin was a silver half dollar issued in 1892 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ expedition to America and discovery of the New World.

I do not understand why they can be purchased in great condition for as little as $15 USD. The obverse was designed by Barber and the Reverse by Morgan!!!! Why aren't these coins worth $100's!!!! I don't understand :headbang:

 

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For some reason commemorative coins don't seem to be highly desired in general.

At the Chicago world's fair they were sold for 1 dollar a piece, but many remained unsold and were eventually released into circulation at face value (50 cents). Perhaps nobody liked them?

 

Simply put, with 2.6 million pieces released demand does not exceed supply so the price is not high.

 

I don't know how you are defining great condition, but my guess is that you are talking about some circulated grade. These coins were not originally meant to circulate. Just like present day commemorative s, they were minted with collectors in mind.

The mintage of this coin was a huge number, over 2.5 million for both years. Compare that with the 36,000 for the Lafayette Dollar or the 24,000 for the Isabella quarter and that should go along way to explain the Columbian's relative affordability.

The Columbian is not challenging until you reach the premium gem status for either year. The populations of this coin in MS65 is in the thousands. This is a coin that I would only buy in either MS66 or MS67, anything less will be forever relegated to the rank of common. However, in premium gem, this coin is worth hundreds/thousands of Dollars.

Personally, the Columbian is not one of my favorite commemoratives. It seems that every single one is toned in cerulean blue. And that hair cut is just awful.

 

so since it was dumped into circulation, than why is it not close to the same value as a Barber half dollar of it's same date? or any 1800's Barber half that is circulated but the same grade?

I'm just saying that 3 mill total mintage of both years and that it was put into circulation, and also it being the 1st commemorative U.S. coin, should be worth alot more than it is. I feel it's currently highly under valued.

 

Reread what Lehigh had to say.

With similar mintages (1892 & 1893 Columbian Halves vs 1892 & 1893 Barber Halves Philly Mint) you must consider:

The Columbian Halves were struck as collector coins. A large number were released into circulation when sales did not meet expectations but a large number were kept in uncirculated condition. Hence, there are large numbers of Columbian Halves in high uncirculated grades.

Barber Halves were struck for circulation. A number of first-year issues (1892) were saved in uncirculated but most saw heavy circulation. (Many collectors did not like the design and did not collect Barber coins so relatively few choice pieces were saved.) Hence, there are small numbers of Barber Halves in high uncirculated grades.

Price = f X Demand / Supply

 

Just to give you an idea of the relative rarity of the Barber Halves. Consider that the 1915-S Barber Half had a mintage of 1.6 million which is close to the mintage of the 1893 Columbian. The 1915-S Barber Half also has a relatively high percentage of surviving mint state examples.

The population of the 1915-S Barber Half in MS64 is only 166/88. The 1893 Columbian population in MS64 is 3091/1416. If Barber Halves were more popular with collectors, they would all be extremely expensive in Mint State, even the relatively common ones. These population numbers should help explain why the Columbian is very affordable even in mint state grades.

If you like the coin, take solace in the fact that it is affordable and obtainable in gem condition. If you feel it is undervalued, please make sure you buy an MS66+ example, because those are the only grades that you have a chance of being right. Remember that with a population of less than 500 in premium gem, there is significant demand from the collectors trying to assemble complete sets of Early Commemoratives.

 

The 1892's only had 950,000 minted.

Of that amount there are 949,999 available because I have one. I like commems and I'm not selling. It's just an average one though and I'm happy it was cheap to get. Why should I ask to pay more for the same product?

 

A very similar situation was the case with the first modern commemorative. The mint produced so darn many '82 Washington halves that many were unsold and ended up in the melting pot.

 

Barber actually adopted the design that Warner did.
Warner took the image from a medal that got the image from a statue done by Sunel. Sunel took the image from a portrait done by Charles Legrand.

Warner also had a part in the reverse. His models were on display at the expo.
Morgan did the work but took the image from a replica of the Santa Maria done in Spain and probably Warner's models with the globes.

There are so many AU or better of these out there.
I don't feel they will ever have a high dollar value but the history behind them is really cool.

 

It is difficult to say why one coin is popular and another is not. The Columbian halves seem to deserve more popularity than they have, but seem destined to be unappreciated forever. I think the comparison to Barber halves is interesting.

 

The guy that ran the expo ask for 40,000,000 of these to be made.
Wonder what they would be worth today if they had of.
The silver for these came from melting old Seated coins and Trade dollars.

 

as others have said; supply and demand.
Mintages do not always = $
I have a proof half dime with a mintage of less than 250 or so... can't remember off the top of my head. worth a couple of hundred $. seems crazy, but thats the way it is. not a lot of demand.

If you look at the early commemorative series as a whole, the columbian is as common as can be, and a great deal many of them ended up as pocket pieces or where tossed into circulation.

I would argue that any NICE looking Columbian is worth picking up, even in the lower grades. Most of the high grade (64-67) Columbian I have seen had very limited eye appeal. in other words they where ugly. I am, sure a lot of them where picked up just to give someones registry a bump.

It seems like the market may back me up; I have seen nicely toned, graded columbians in low unc (62 or so) go for multiples of their book value. Eye appeal can trump technical grades in the columbians IMO.

 

I assume you are talking of the columbian only... the classic commemorative set is pretty competitive and highly collected... there are even "sets within sets" like collecting the Arkansas series, texas, boon, oregon trail, etc.

 

As long as we are being completely honest, I consider the design of the Columbian Commemorative to be one of the ugliest Commemorative designs. Only the Maryland Tercentary, Rhode Island Tercentary, Wisconsin Centennial, York County Tercentary, Columbia Sesqui, and Washington/Carver are worse IMO.

 

I like the design and it is the main icon on my website. The thing is, these things are everywhere. When I went to the dealer last week he showed be a dozen of them, when he finally just stopped looking. They were hanging off the ceiling.

Ruben

 

You should change your icon to a Peace Dollar me thinks.

 

I like it better than the peace dollar.

http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/halfs/columbian_obverse.png

http://www.mrbrklyn.com/coins/halfs/columbia_reverse.png

 

I don't particularly like that one in the OP's post.

Ruben

 

I can't get past the hair. Is the Columbian your favorite Half Dollar commemorative? I have always been torn between the Vermont and the Antietam myself.