Maryland Tercentenary half dollar

The Maryland Tercentenary half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent piece issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1934. It depicts The Rt Hon. The 2nd Baron Baltimore on the obverse and the Coat of Arms of Maryland on the reverse. The coin was created in honor of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of English settlers in Maryland.

About Maryland Tercentenary half dollar in brief

The Maryland Tercentenary half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent piece issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1934. It depicts The Rt Hon. The 2nd Baron Baltimore on the obverse and the Coat of Arms of Maryland on the reverse. The coin was created in honor of the 300th anniversary of the arrival of English settlers in Maryland. A design had already been prepared by Professor Hans Schuler; it passed review by the Commission of Fine Arts, though there was controversy then and since over whether Lord Baltimore, a Cavalier and Catholic, would have worn a collar typical of Puritans. The Commission sold about 15,000 of the full issue of 25,000 for USD 1 each, and thereafter discounted the price for large sales to dealers and speculators, getting as little as sixty-five cents per coin. They increased in value over time, and are now valued in the low hundreds of dollars. In 1934, commemorative coins were not sold by the government—Congress, in authorizing legislation, usually designated an organization which had the exclusive right to purchase them at face value and vend them to the public at a premium.

In the case of the Maryland half dollar, the responsible group was the Ter centenary Commission, acting through its president or secretary. The state’s two senators introduced legislation for such a piece, and it passed both houses of Congress with no opposition. The bill, authorizing 25,00 half dollars, passed into law on May 9, 1934 with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The commission wanted to use profits from the coin to defray the expenses of the anniversary celebrations. As well as seeking the coin, the commission requested that a commemoratives postage stamp be issued. A coin was prepared for the coin while the bill was pending, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Hans Caemmerer, sent a telegram to its sculptor, Lee Lawrie, stating that the Treasury Department needed an immediate answer as to whether the designs were suitable. Lawrie made changes to the coin’s plaster models back to the mint, but generally approved the coin.

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