Maine Centennial half dollar
The Maine Centennial half dollar is a commemorative coin struck in 1920 by the United States Bureau of the Mint. It was sculpted by Anthony de Francisci, following sketches by artist Harry Cochrane, from Monmouth, Maine. A bill to allow such a coin passed Congress without opposition, but then the state’s centennial commission decided to sell the coins for USD 1, double the face value.
About Maine Centennial half dollar in brief
The Maine Centennial half dollar is a commemorative coin struck in 1920 by the United States Bureau of the Mint. It was sculpted by Anthony de Francisci, following sketches by artist Harry Cochrane, from Monmouth, Maine. A bill to allow such a coin passed Congress without opposition, but then the state’s centennial commission decided to sell the coins for USD 1, double the face value. Fifty thousand pieces, half the authorized mintage, were struck for release to the public. They were issued too late to be sold at the centennial celebrations in Portland, but eventually the coins were all sold, though relatively few went to coin collectors. Today they list for hundreds to thousands of dollars, depending on condition. The Maine bill was passed by the House of Representatives on April 21, 1920, and by the Senate on April 22, 1920. The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency; on April 28, it was reported back with a recommendation that it pass. On May 3, Utah Senator Reed Smoot objected to the bill, believing that it might not be reached for urgent action that day, and demanded that it be considered for consideration the next day. The Senate passed the bill; and on May 3 the bill was considered for the first time in the history of the U.S.
Coinage Act of 1920 was signed into law by President Warren G. Harding, and it was approved by Congress on May 4. The coin was struck on May 8, 1920; the date of the centenary of Maine’s admission to the Union on March 15, 1820. It is one of only 100,000 coins to bear the commemorative design, and the only one ever to do so. The state of Maine would pay the dies, but there would be no local observances for the Maine centennial for they would be local for the rest of the year. Maine would also become the federal government’s property owner for the coins once they were in circulation. The design was inspired by the Illinois Centennial coin of 1918, which was also struck in that year, but with a different design and a different mintage of 50,000 pieces. The centennial commemorative was intended to advertise the Maine state’s 1820 admission and the celebrations to be held in the state. The Commission of Fine Arts disliked the proposed design and urged changes, but Maine officials insisted, and they converted the sketches to plaster models, from which coinage dies were made.
You want to know more about Maine Centennial half dollar?
This page is based on the article Maine Centennial half dollar published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
