Early United States Commemorative Coins

The Early United States commemorative coins traditionally begins with the 1892 Colombian Half dollar and extends through the 1954 Booker T. Washington issue. The profits from the sale of commemorative coins was often used to fund a specific project. Commemorative coins were a money raising mechanism that provided an alternative to raising taxes.

25 Cents Silver (mintage)

  • Columbian Exposition 1893 (24,124)

50 Cents Silver (mintage)

  • Columbian Exposition
    • 1892 (950,000, including about 100 proof coinage.)
    • 1893 (1,550,405, including about 100 proofs.)
  • Panama-Pacific Exposition 1915-S (27,134)
  • Lincoln/Illinois Centennial 1918 (100,058)
  • Maine Centennial 1920 (50,028)
  • Pilgrim Tercentenary
    • 1920 (152,112)
    • 1921 (20,053)
  • Missouri Centennial 1921
    • 1921 (15,428)
    • 1921 2x4 (5,000)
  • Alabama Centennial 1921
    • 1921 (59,038)
    • 1921 2x2 (6,006)
  • Grant Memorial
    • 1922 (67,405)
    • 1922 with star (4,256)
  • Monroe Doctrine Centennial 1923-S (274,077)
  • Huguenot/Walloon Tercentenary 1924 (142,080)
  • Lexington and Concord Sesquicentennial 1925 (162,013)
  • Stone Mountain Memorial 1925 (1,314,709)
  • California Diamond Jubilee 1925-S (86,594)
  • Fort Vancouver Centennial 1925 (14,994)
  • Sesquicentennial of American Independence 1926 (141,120)
  • Oregon Trail Memorial
    • 1926 (PS) (47,955, 83,055)
    • 1928 (6,028)
    • 1933-D (5,008)
    • 1934-D (7,006)
    • 1936 (PS) (10,006, 5,006)
    • 1937-D (12,008)
    • 1938 (PDS) (6,006, 6,005, 6,006)
    • 1939 (PDS) (3,004, 3,004, 3005)
  • Vermont Sesquicentennial 1927 (28,162)
  • Hawaiian Sesquicentennial 1928 (10,008, including 50 proofs.)
  • Maryland Tercentenary 1934 (25,015)
  • Texas Centennial Half Dollar
    • 1934 (61,463)
    • 1935 (PDS) (9,996, 10,007, 10,008)
    • 1936 (PDS) (8,911, 9,039, 9,055)
    • 1937 (PDS) (6,571, 6,605, 6,637)
    • 1938 (PDS) (3,780, 3,775, 3,814)
  • Daniel Boone Bicentennial
    • 1934 (10,007)
    • 1935 (PDS) (10,010, 5,005, 5,005)
    • 1935/34 (PDS) (10,008, 2,003, 2,004)
    • 1936 (PDS) (12,012, 5,005, 5,006)
    • 1937 (PDS) (9,810, 2,506, 2,506)
    • 1938 (PDS) (2,100, 2,100, 2,100)
  • Connecticut Tercentenary 1935 (25,018)
  • Arkansas Centennial
    • 1935 (PDS) (13,012, 5,005, 5,006)
    • 1936 (PDS) (9,660, 9,660, 9,662)
    • 1937 (PDS) (5,505, 5,505, 5,506)
    • 1938 (PDS) (3,156, 3,155, 3,156)
    • 1939 (PDS) (2,104, 2,104, 2,105)
  • Arkansas-Robinson 1936 (25,265)
  • Hudson, New York Sesquicentennial1935 (10,008)
  • San Diego, California Pacific Exposition
    • 1935-S (70,132)
    • 1936-D (30,092)
  • Old Spanish Trail 1935 (10,008)
  • Rhode Island Tercentenary 1936 (PDS) (20,013, 15,010, 15,011)
  • Cleveland/Great Lakes Exposition 1936 (50,030)
  • Wisconsin Territorial Centennial 1936 (25,015)
  • Cincinnati Music Center 1936 (PDS) (5,005, 5,005, 5,006)
  • Long Island Tercentenary 1936 (81,826)
  • York County, Maine Tercentenary 1936 (25,015)
  • Bridgeport, Connecticut Centennial 1936 (25,015)
  • Lynchburg, Virginia Sesquicentennial 1936 (20,013)
  • Elgin Centennial 1936 (20,015)
  • Albany, New York Charter 1936 (25,013)
  • San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge 1936-S (71,424)
  • Columbia, South Carolina Sesquicentennial 1936 (PDS) (9,007, 8,009, 8,007)
  • Delaware Tercentenary 1936 (20,993)
  • Battle of Gettysburg 1936 (26,928)
  • Norfolk, Virginia Bicentennial 1936 (16,936)
  • Roanoke Island, North Carolina 1937 (29,030)
  • Battle of Antietam 1937 (18,028)
  • New Rochelle, New York 1938 (15,266)
  • Iowa Centennial 1946 (100,057)
  • Booker T. Washington Memorial
    • 1946 (PDS) (1,000,546, 200,113, 500,279)
    • 1947 (PDS) (100,017, 100,017, 100,017)
    • 1948 (PDS) (8,005, 8,005, 8,005)
    • 1949 (PDS) (6,004, 6,004, 6,004)
    • 1950 (PDS) (6,004, 6,004, 512,091)
    • 1951 (PDS) (510,082, 7,004, 7,004)
  • George Washington Carver/Booker T. Washington
    • 1951 (PDS) (20,018, 10,004, 10,004)
    • 1952 (PDS) (1,006,292, 8,006, 8,006)
    • 1953 (PDS) (8,003, 8,003, 88,020)
    • 1954 (PDS) (12,006, 12,006, 42,024)

1 Dollar Silver

  • Lafayette 1900 (36,026)

1 Dollar Gold

  • Louisiana_Purchase_Exposition 1903
    • Jefferson (17,375)
    • McKinley (17,375)
  • Lewis_and_Clark_Centennial_Exposition
    • 1904 (10,025)
    • 1905 (10,041)
  • Panama-Pacific Exposition 1915-S (15,000)
  • Grant Memorial
    • 1922 (5,000)
    • 1922 with star (5,006)
  • McKinley Memorial
    • 1916 (9,977)
    • 1917 (10,000)

Two and a Half Dollars Gold

  • Panama-Pacific Exposition 1915-S (6,749)
  • Sesquicentennial of the United States 1926 (46,019)

Fifty Dollars Gold

  • Panama-Pacific Exposition (Round) 1915-S (483)
  • Panama-Pacific Exposition (Octagonal) 1915-S (645)

Famous quotes containing the words early, united, states and/or coins:

    “We are living now, not in the delicious intoxication induced by the early successes of science, but in a rather grisly morning-after, when it has become apparent that what triumphant science has done hitherto is to improve the means for achieving unimproved or actually deteriorated ends.”
    —Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)

    “I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.”
    —Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1954)

    “An ... important antidote to American democracy is American gerontocracy. The positions of eminence and authority in Congress are allotted in accordance with length of service, regardless of quality. Superficial observers have long criticized the United States for making a fetish of youth. This is unfair. Uniquely among modern organs of public and private administration, its national legislature rewards senility.”
    —John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)

    “A war undertaken without sufficient monies has but a wisp of force. Coins are the very sinews of battles.”
    —François Rabelais (1494–1553)