Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar
The Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1927. The coin was designed by Charles Keck, and on its obverse depicts early Vermont leader Ira Allen, brother of Ethan Allen. In the days before the American Revolutionary War, the ownership of what is now the state of Vermont was uncertain.
About Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar in brief
The Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1927. The coin was designed by Charles Keck, and on its obverse depicts early Vermont leader Ira Allen, brother of Ethan Allen. In the days before the American Revolutionary War, the ownership of what is now the state of Vermont was uncertain. New Hampshire claimed it, deeming its own western boundary to be 20 miles east of the Hudson River. The colony of New York believed it owned the territory north of Massachusetts east to the Connecticut River. In 1777, the British general, John Burgoyne, advanced south from Canada, hoping to divide the colonies by capturing the Hudson Valley in what is called the Saratoga Campaign. About 200 of the British forces were killed and 700 were taken prisoner; only 40 Americans were killed. The American victory at the Battle of Bennington was deemed an American victory that turned the tide of the war, because it won for Americans the last element needed for foreign assistance. Legislation for a silver and one gold piece in commemoration of the victory was introduced in 1925, and passed the Senate without difficulty. The House of Representatives faced an array of problems. Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon sent a letter opposing the bill and dispatched three Treasury officials to testify against it, arguing that the public was being confused as special coin issues entered circulation.
Although the eventual reverse design of a catamount satisfied the Fine Arts Commission, it has been severely criticized by later writers. The coins did not sell out; over a fourth of the issue was returned for redemption and melting, and today the coins sell for at least in the hundreds of dollars today, depending on condition. The coins were struck after a lengthy battle over the design between the Commission of Fine Arts and the Vermont commission in charge of organizing the coin issue, as a result of which the original designer, Sherry Fry, left the project, replaced by Keck. In 1791, the year Vermont was admitted to the Union, he was the principal founder of the University of Vermont, the first university in the U.S. to have a religious nondiscrimination policy. He was a key player in Vermont politics in the Revolutionary War years, and served as state treasurer, designed the great seal, and in the 1780s surveyed several towns, three of which are named for him: Ira, Irasburg and Alburg, Vermont. He fled to Philadelphia, where he hoped to reverse his fortunes but was unable to; he died there impoverished in 1814. He returned to Vermont in 1796 to buy weapons for the state militia, but his ship and cargo were taken by the British, and was put in jail in Burlington for debt. He died there in 1798, and returned to Burlington in 1799 to find his land seized for taxes, and he died in 1810. He is buried in the town of Alburg.
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This page is based on the article Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 01, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
