What does the Norfolk, Virginia commemorative Half Dollar Celebrate? A. Land Grant in 1636 B. Township in 1682 C. Establishment as a borough in 1736 Know what? If you selected all three possible answers, you are totally right! If you chose only one or two of the answers, you are partially right! The original idea of a fund raiser for Norfolk was to produce medals to help the residents of Norfolk celebrate the anniversary of Norfolk's growth from a township to a borough in 1736. The proponents of the celebration used their political clout to get Congress to authorize a Half Dollar coin instead of a medal plus have the coin commemorate, not only its growth from township to borough, but to also celebrate the 300th Anniversary of the original land grant and the 200th Anniversary of the borough. Designers of the Norfolk coin, Mr. and Mrs Simpson (William Marks and Marjorie Emory), accomplished this by including the following text on the coin: Obverse: Text from 7:00 to 12:00 to 5:00 along rim: BOROUGH OF NORFOLK BICENTENNIAL Text at 6:00: 1936 Text inside above text running from 9:00 to 6:00 to 3:00 CITY OF NORFOLK VIRGINIA Text running from 9:00 to 12:00 to 3:00 TOWNSHIP 1682 BOROUGH 1736 CITY 1845 Center of coin features the Norfolk City Seal. The rest of the commemoration is featured on the reverse: Centered froim 6:00 up to 12:00 is the Royal Mace of Norfolk which was presented by Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie in 1753. The 300th Anniversary of Norfolk's Land Grant is prominently displayed in the center of the reverse with the numbers 16 to the left of the Mace and 36 to the right of the Mace. Feast your eyes on the coin (courtesy of Coinpage) and read the other text on the reverse: http://www.coinpage.com/large.php?tImageId=711 Isn't that a remarkeable achievement for the Philadelphia Mint in 1936? Clinker - http://clinker.bravehost.com/funpage2.html
Clinker - thanks for the post. I used to live in Norfolk so it was of interest to me. Regarding the coin, it is too busy given all the text on the coin for my tastes.
The Norfolk is one of my absolute favorite Commemoratives. And my favorite Norfolk of all time can be seen below (photos courtesy of Brandon Kelley, ARC). I see this coin as a test of sorts. If you don't like this coin, then my friend, you just don't like toning. Toned coins simply don't come much better than this absolute monster. Did I mention that it was graded by two different TPG's PCGS MS68 & ICG MS69.
Carnert: Thanks for reading and cimmenting plus your regaeds about the busy text on the coin, but remember most of the text is required by law. Clinker
You have that the wrong way around. Tarnish (corrosion) is bad for engineering materials (steel etc) as they hold things together. A bridge falling apart from corrosion is baaaaad. Toning on coins, which can only be viewed and admired, makes them beautiful and unique.
