United States 1936 half dollar KM-177

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Stack's Bowers December 2020 auction, lot 4044, sold $115
"1936 Cleveland Centennial/Great Lakes Exposition. MS-65 (NGC)."

Authorization

The act which authorized the coining of the 50,000 Cleveland halves was modified several times before its passage on May 5, 1936. The Cleveland Centennial and Great Lakes Exposition was held June 27 to October 4, 1936, reopening for a second season in 1937. Honoring the city of Cleveland and the industrial achievements of the Great Lakes region, it apparently had no official connection with the Cleveland/Great Lakes half dollar, although specimens of the coin were sold there. It celebrates the one-hundredth anniversary of Cleveland, Ohio's incorporation as a city, as well as the Great Lakes Exposition staged during 1936-37 in honor of Cleveland's centennial.

The Cleveland half dollar celebrates that city's centennial of incorporation, although it was actually founded in 1796. Settled on land along the southern shore of Lake Erie at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, Cleveland was a part of the so-called "Western Reserve." This title referred to land in northeast Ohio that was still claimed by the state of Connecticut! The old colonial charters had given each colony the lands "to the west," without any specific terminus, and Connecticut was the last of the states to surrender its claims in 1800. By then the area in and around what is now Cleveland had been settled by many Connecticut farmers whose lands were burned by the British during the War of Independence. Further to the west in Erie County, Ohio, these lands are known as the Firelands. That portion of the Western Reserve which remained was purchased by the Connecticut Land Company in 1795. Among its surveyors was one Moses Cleaveland, who laid out the settlement which bears his name (the first ‘a' was dropped by the city around 1830).

The GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION of 1936 and 1937 provided Clevelanders with relief from the dreariness of the Depression and helped them celebrate the centennial of Cleveland's incorporation as a city. The exposition was the idea of Frank J. Ryan and Lincoln G. Dickey, the city's first public hall commissioner. Mall A was the site of the Sherwin-Williams Plaza at the Great Lakes Exposition of 1937.

DUDLEY S. BLOSSOM became chairman of a civic committee that contributed $1.5 million to transform the idea into reality. Built on land extending along the lakefront from W. 3rd St. to about E. 20th St., the 135-acre exposition also incorporated the Mall area, Public Hall, and Municipal Stadium. Work began in Apr. 1936, and in just 80 days the exposition opened to the public on 27 June 1936 for a 100-day run. Among the attractions which drew 4 million visitors to the lakefront that year were a "Streets of the World" district that featured 200 cafes and bazaars reminiscent of the countries they represented, a midway with rides and sideshows, a Court of the Presidents, a Hall of Progress, an Automotive Bldg., an art gallery, a Marine Theater, and horticultural gardens. The 1937 season opened on 29 May with a new attraction which became its most popular feature: an Aquacade that featured water ballet shows and starred Eleanor Holm and Johnny Weismuller. By the time the second season came to an end on 15 Sept., nearly $70 million had been spent by approximately 7 million exposition visitors over the 2 years. The only vestiges of the festival remaining in 1995 were the Donald Gray Gardens directly north of the stadium.

Obverse

Brenda Putnam

The obverse designed by Brenda Putnam, features a portrait bust of General Moses Cleaveland (1754-1806), facing left. Surrounding this are his name and the motto LIBERTY, the two inscriptions arranged in arc form and separated by three stars. Arranged in peripheral arcs are UNITED STATES OF AMERICA above and HALF DOLLAR below, these separated by more ornamental dots. The sculptor's initials BP are found below the bust.

Reverse

The reverse of the Cleveland half, also by Brenda Putnam, is an aerial view of the five Great Lakes. Nine stars representing the major lake port cities of Deluth, Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Toronto, Buffalo, Rochester and Cleveland appear in their respective positions. A compass symbolizes Cleveland as a center of industry with an area of 900 miles radius, placed above them, with its axis pointing toward the largest star, Cleveland. The statutory mottoes IN GOD WE TRUST and E PLURIBUS UNUM appear in the field. Around the periphery are GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION and CLEVELAND CENTENNIAL, separated by the tiny dates 1836 and 1936.

Mintage

Authorized, 25,000 to 50,000; coined, two indistinguishable batches, July 1936 and February 1937, each [25,000 + 15 assay]. No Proofs reported.

In 1941 the Western Reserve Numismatic Club counterstamped on both sides 100 of the original with a small round die portraying General Cleaveland during its 20th anniversary celebration. In 1971 at least 13 of the original, possibly 20 were counterstamped by the Western Reserve Numismatic Club with a small round die portraying General Cleaveland and FIFTY YEARS, during its Golden Jubilee celebration. In 1996 the Western Reserve Numismatic Club issued the third counterstamp with a pair of dies created in 1996 by Ron Landis of the Gallery Mint Museum of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, to celebrate WRNC's 75th anniversary. In all, about 400 total items were countermarked in 1996, and they varied widely in type as club members could submit (for a small fee) anything they desired to have countermarked. There were 21 Cleveland half dollars countermarked.

Specification: 192.9 grains = 12.50 grams, 0.900 fine silver, 30.6 mm diameter, reeded edge.

Catalog reference: KM 177.

Source:

  • Breen, Walter H., Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. and Colonial Coins, New York: Doubleday, 1987.
  • Slabaugh, Arlie R., United States Commemorative Coinage, 2nd Ed., Racine, WI: Whitman Publishing, 1975.
  • Yeoman, R. S., and Kenneth Bressett (ed.), A Guide Book of United States Coins, 65th Ed., Atlanta, GA: Whitman Publishing, 2011.

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