United States 1936 half dollar KM-182
Authorization
The first white people to establish a community on Long Island were Dutch immigrants who arrived in 1636. A deal was soon struck with the 13 Algonquin tribes inhabiting the island, securing it for the Netherlands. In reference to its size (118 miles in length), the Dutch chose to call it Lange Eylandt (Long Island). Their small settlement on the southwestern shore of the island they named Breuckelin after a town in Holland. This little village on Jamaica Bay would ultimately be renamed Brooklyn, reflecting the growing English population which gradually came to unseat the Dutch. Although resentment against the encroaching English grew, there was little the Dutch could do in the long run, since their own government in Holland proved quite miserly in providing for the defense of its New World lands. Briefly recaptured by the Dutch during their 1673 war with England, a peace settlement the following year returned Long Island to the English, who retained control until the end of the War of Independence in 1783, when it was surrendered to the Americans.
To mark the 300th anniversary of the first European settlement, a Long Island Tercentenary Committee was formed with Louis C. Wills as its chairman.
Obverse
The obverse of the Long Island half dollar by Howard Kenneth Weinman, the son of famed sculptor and medallist Adolph Alexander Weinman, features a right-facing bust of a male Dutch colonist overlapping a similar bust of an Algonquin male. These portraits have been derisively described as two boxers because of their lantern jaws and prominent noses. Above the men in a peripheral arc is the legend LIBERTY, while the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM appears below. Underneath the Indian's chin is Weinman's monogram, a letter H atop letter W, which looks quite similar to his father's monogram AW.
Reverse
The reverse is dominated by a right-facing profile view of a 17th-century ship under full sail, although critics have noted that it seems to be heading toward Holland rather than America. It travels upon a scroll-like sea into which IN GOD WE TRUST has been incused (this motto was added by U. S. Mint Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock). Written in a single, long semicircle around the upper periphery is UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HALF DOLLAR. Arranged compactly in three lines below the sea are the date 1936 and the title LONG ISLAND TERCENTENARY.
Mintage
100,000 pieces were authorized, an additional 53 coins were struck and were reserved for assay, later destroyed. Despite their arriving too late for the May celebration, these coins sold quite well at $1 apiece during the period that they were available; all but 18,227 of the halves were distributed by local banks before arrival of the April 13, 1937 cutoff date (frustrated by commemorative issues that were marketed year after year, Congress had written into the law authorizing this issue that their sale would terminate one year after enactment). Specific quantities were initially allocated to each of the four Long Island counties on the basis of population. The greatest number of coins went to Kings County (Brooklyn), where many were sold from an office at the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper. After the remaining coins were melted, a net mintage of 81,773 pieces was recorded for the Long Island half, making it one of the better sellers among single-variety coins.
Coins were sold by Long Island banks in generic coin envelopes (for single coins) or unprinted cardboard holders (for up to five coins per holder). Mailing envelopes were imprinted with the name of the Committee and the National City Bank of Brooklyn. Scarcer are the blue presentation boxes embossed LONG ISLAND TERCENTENARY COMMITTEE TO with the recipient's name following. These are highly prized.
Specification: 192.9 grains = 12.50 grams, 0.900 fine silver, 30.6 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM 182.
- 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.
Link to:
- 1935 half dollar, Connecticut Tercentenary
- 1935 half dollar, Hudson Sesquicentennial
- 1935-S half dollar, San Diego International Exposition
- 1935 half dollar, Old Spanish Trail
- 1936 cent
- 1936 half dollar, Albany Charter Anniversary
- 1936-S half dollar, Opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
- 1936 half dollar, Bridgeport centennial
- 1936 half dollar, Cincinnati Music Center
- 1936-D half dollar, Cincinnati Music Center
- 1936-S half dollar, Cincinnati Music Center
- 1936 half dollar, Cleveland-Great Lakes Exposition
- 1936 half dollar, Delaware Tercentenary
- 1936 half dollar, Elgin centennial
- 1936 half dollar, Battle of Gettysburg
- 1936 half dollar, Lynchburg Sesquicentennial
- 1936 half dollar, Norfolk Bicentennial
- 1936 half dollar, Arkansas-Robinson Centennial
- 1936 half dollar, Wisconsin Territorial Centennial
- 1936 half dollar, York County Tercentenary
- Coins and currency dated 1936
- return to United States Commemorative Coins, 1892-1954