The New Rochelle 250th anniversary half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1938. It was the last new-design commemorative striking by the Mint until 1946. Artist Gertrude K. Lathrop designed the piece; she was chosen after work by Lorrilard Wise was rejected by the federal Commission of Fine Arts. The coin depicts a fatted calf on one side, being led by John Pell, who sold the land on which the city now stands.
About New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar in brief
The New Rochelle 250th anniversary half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1938. It was the last new-design commemorative striking by the Mint until 1946. Artist Gertrude K. Lathrop designed the piece; she was chosen after work by Lorrilard Wise was rejected by the federal Commission of Fine Arts. The coin depicts a fatted calf on one side, being led by John Pell, who sold the land on which the city now stands. The other shows a fleur de lis, an element of the city seal and of France’s La Rochelle, its eponym. The piece is dated 1938 but was minted the previous year. It is sold locally, and by mail order to all 48 states and internationally, during late 1937 and early 1938. When sales slowed, 9,749 pieces were returned to the mint for redemption and melting. They have risen in price and now sell in the low hundreds of dollars. The city of New Roc Michelle, New York, in Westchester County, was founded by Huguenots from La Rocchel in France in 1688. British-American political theorist Thomas Paine later owned land in New RocMichelle, which was incorporated as a village in 1858 and as a city in 1899. The idea was attractive as it would help fund celebrations in the mid-1930s rather than draw on taxpayers by the Depression. The issue originated in discussions between members of the Westchester county Coin Club, who planned the issue to avoid the abuses of earlier commemoratives being issued in the 1930s and 1940s. One coin authorized and issued in 1936 was the Cincinnati Musical Center half dollar, controlled and profited from by Thomas G.
Melish and issued to celebrate a nonexistent anniversary. Until 1954, the entire mintage of such issues was sold by the government at face value to a group authorized by Congress, who then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. They could only be coined at one mint and all pieces were required to bear the date, though the 1936 authorization took place in and the 1937 striking of the 1937 half dollar was required to be struck at the mint and the face value would be less than three. The coins in 1937 and 1938 would be issued at less than two cents each, and the coins in 1938 and 1939 would be striking at one cents each. They would be minted at a single mint, rather than all three then operating as with earlier issues. Such provisions were in the New Rocchelle half dollar bill; they could not be used for any other commemorative issue in 1938, though they could be used to strike the 1938 half dollar. The New Roc Chelle piece was struck in 1937 at the Philadelphia Mint. It has been both praised and criticized by numismatic commentators. In 1936, Congress authorized an explosion of commemoratives in 1936; no fewer than fifteen were issued for the first time. The market for United States commemorative coins spiked in 1936. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the coin collecting hobby.
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