User:Generalissima/Daniel Boone Bicentennial half dollar
Background
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Daniel Boone was an American frontiersman and an early settler of Kentucky. He was hired to cut the Wilderness Road in 1775, a vital early settler route running through the Cumberland Gap to the Kentucky River. His fame as a woodsman and longhunter led to significant literary coverage and status as a prominent folk hero. A bust of Boone had previously appeared on the 1921 Missouri Centennial half dollar.[1][2]
In early 1934, the Lexington, Kentucky-based Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission, headed by C. Frank Dunn, partnered with the Boone Family Association to press for a commemorative half dollar for the two-hundredth anniversary of Boone's birth in order to raise money to restore historic sites associated. They were able to gain the support of Kentucky Senator Alben W. Barkley to propose a bill. It passed on May 26, 1934, authorizing an issue of 600,000 coins.[2][3]
Henry Augustus Lukeman, a prolific sculptor of public monuments, was chosen to design the coin. In addition to a number of other Civil War memorials, he briefly managed construction of the Stone Mountain Memorial beginning in 1925.[2][4]
Design
[edit]The Daniel Boone Bicentennial Commission initially insisted that Lukeman base his depiction of Boone on Albin Polasek's bust of the frontiersman. Writing to Dunn, Lukeman explained that Polasek's depiction was impossible to transpose onto a coin design beyond the silhouette. Instead, Lukeman's bust was inspired by an 1834 engraving by James B. Longacre in his National Portrait Gallery Of Distinguished Americans, as well as a fanciful illustration in the 1847 History of Kentucky. Cornelius Vermeule describes the depiction as owing "as much to Italian Renaissance heads of Julius Caesar" to Boone's physical appearance.[3][4]
Lukeman's model of Boone was disputed by Dunn and William Boone Douglass, the president of the Boone Family Association. Douglass claimed that the Polasek bust was Boone's most accurate depiction, and demanded it be followed. However, the Lexington Herald (regarded by Douglass as an authoritative source on Boone) eventually approved of Lukeman's model, ending further controversy over the depiction.[5]
Reception
[edit]Numismatist and art collector Cornelius Vermeule described the design as one of the American coins in terms of artistry, describing its reverse as a "broad, bold concept of figures".[5]
Production and distribution
[edit]Although the authorizing legislation allowed for an issue of 600,000 coins, only 10,010 coins were produced in 1934, all at the Philadelphia Mint.[a] This issue was shipped to Dunn's Lexington office at the Phoenix Hotel, where he managed the coins' distribution and sale. Dunn set the initial price of the coins to $1.60. The following year, coins were additionally struck with mint marks at the Denver Mint and San Francisco Mint. The price of the Philadelphia coins was reduced to $1.10, while the new Denver and San Francisco issue were each sold for $1.50 per coin.[7]
Additional date
[edit]On August 25, 1935, Congress approved legislation which authorized a slight modification to the design of the coins, adding the date 1934 (in slightly smaller type) above the label "Pioneer Year" on the reverse. The Philadelphia Mint
In 1937, three matte proof issues were produced in extremely small numbers. These are well-struck in comparison to the business strike, with much sharper lettering.[8]
Mintage figures
[edit]| Date | Mint | Produced | Assay | Melted | Net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | (P) | 10,000 | 7 | - | 10,007 |
| 1935 | (P) | 10,000 | 10 | - | 10,010 |
| D | 5,000 | 5 | - | 5,005 | |
| S | 5,000 | 5 | - | 5,005 | |
| 1935
(variant) |
(P) | 10,000 | 8 | - | 10,008 |
| D | 2,000 | 3 | - | 2,003 | |
| S | 2,000 | 4 | - | 2,004 | |
| 1936 | (P) | 12,000 | 12 | - | 12,012 |
| D | 5,000 | 5 | - | 5,005 | |
| S | 5,000 | 6 | - | 5,006 | |
| 1937 | (P) | 15,000 | 10 | 5,200 | 9,810 |
| D | 7,500 | 6 | 5,000 | 2,506 | |
| S | 5,000 | 6 | 2,500 | 2,506 | |
| 1938 | (P) | 5,000 | 5 | 2,900 | 2,105 |
| D | 5,000 | 5 | 2,900 | 2,105 | |
| S | 5,000 | 6 | 2,900 | 2,106 |
Collecting
[edit]During its period of production, dealers often referred to the coin as the "Kentucky half dollar", but the Daniel Boone Bicentennial moniker gradually gained predominance after the 1930s.[5]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ Gunter, Donald W. (December 7, 2020). "Daniel Boone (1734–1820)". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
- ^ a b c Bowers 1991, pp. 243–244.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen 1981, pp. 29–30.
- ^ a b Vermeule 1971, pp. 186–187.
- ^ a b c d Bowers 1991, p. 244.
- ^ a b Swiatek & Breen 1981, p. 31.
- ^ Bowers 1991, pp. 244–245.
- ^ Swiatek & Breen 1981, pp. 31–32.
Bibliography
[edit]- Bowers, Q. David (1991). Commemorative Coins of the United States: A Complete Encyclopedia. Bowers and Merena Galleries. ISBN 0-943161-36-3.
- Swiatek, Anthony; Breen, Walter (1981). Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins 1892-1954. New York: Arco Publishing. ISBN 0-668-04765-8.
- Taxay, Don (1967). An Illustrated History of U.S. Commemorative Coinage. New York: Arco Publishing. LCCN 67-10696.
- Vermeule, Cornelius Clarkson III (1971). Numismatic Art in America: Aesthetics of the United States Coinage. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. SBN 674-62840-3.