1921: 100,053 including 53 assay pieces The Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar or Pilgrim half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1920 and 1921. It was designed by Cyrus E. Dallin and struck in 1921 to mark the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pil Grims in North America. It is the only commemorative half dollar to have been struck in honor of the anniversary of their arrival in the U.S., and the only one to bear the name “Pilgrims” on the obverse and the reverse.
About Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar in brief
1921: 100,053 including 53 assay pieces The Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar or Pilgrim half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1920 and 1921. The Pilgrims were Brownist English Dissenters; they sought a version of the Christian religion without things they deemed nonessential, such as bishops or Christmas. The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, in South West England, on September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers and a crew of 47. After a promising start, sales tailed off, and tens of thousands of coins from each year were returned to the Philadelphia Mint for melting. In 1920, the government did not sell the commemorative coins, but designated a specific organization to buy them at face value and to vend them at the public at a premium. In the case of the Pilgrim halfdollar, the premium was not the name of the organization, but the name for a Pilgrim Ter centennial half dollar, enabling the public to buy the coin at a higher price. The coin was struck in the second year as the start of a trend to force collectors to buy more than one piece in order to have a complete set. It was designed by Cyrus E. Dallin and struck in 1921 to mark the 300th anniversary of the arrival of the Pil Grims in North America. It is the only commemorative half dollar to have been struck in honor of the anniversary of their arrival in the U.S., and the only one to bear the name “Pilgrims” on the obverse and the reverse.
It has been the subject of a number of books, including “The Pilgrim Coin: A History of the 50th Centenary Coin” by James Earle Fraser and “The Pilgrim Coin: The First 50 Centenary Coins” by David Bowers, published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. (1998). It was the first commemorative 50 cent coin to be published by a major American publisher, and the first of its kind in the world. The first half of the coin was sold for $1.50. The second half was sold at $2.50, and it was issued for $3.50 in 1921. It had a face value of $5.00, and was struck to raise money for the observances at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in support of the observance of the first Pilgrim anniversary. The commemorative coin was not sold at the general public, but was sold to an organization called the Pilgrim Ter Centenary Commission to raise funds for observances of the second Pilgrim anniversary, which was held in June 1921. In that year, the first half-dollar was sold by the Mint for $4.00. The cent was struck for $6.50 and sold in 1922 for $7.50; it was the second commemorative cent dollar to be issued in that year’s anniversary, and in 1924 for $8.00 and $9.50 respectively.
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This page is based on the article Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 16, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
