United States 1936 half dollar KM-184

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US 1936 Norfolk 50c ab.jpg

Authorization

As the bicentennial of Norfolk borough approached, a civic group called the Norfolk Advertising Board sought a commemorative coin to mark the occasion and to fund local celebrations. Recognizing the limited appeal of such an issue, the Senate reworded this bill, substituting "medal" for "coin." In this form, the legislation was passed June 26, 1936. It was well known that medals sold poorly when measured against legal-tender coins, and the Board declined to proceed with the approved medal. Instead, it beseeched powerful Virginia Senator Carter Glass (whose portrait appears on the Lynchburg, Virginia half dollar) to make another attempt at a coin bill. This was slow in coming, but his influence finally pushed it through more than a year later on June 28, 1937. This bill authorized the coining of not more than 25,000 half dollars, to be coined at a single mint and with a single design. The fact that the bicentennial had come and gone no longer seemed relevant, as the movement to produce and sell coins had developed a life of its own.

Obverse

William Marks Simpson - 1944

Obverse device is the Norfolk city seal. Below the stylized waves are a plough with a row of young plants (possibly peanut plants, as Norfolk is in a major peanut-growing area), and below these in turn three wheat sheaves these details are often vague on normal strikings. Mottoes ET TERRA ET MARE DIVITIAE TUAE and CRESCAS mean, respectively, "Both land and sea are your riches" and "May you grow" or "May you prosper/" Though no documentation exists, the cable border separating the outermost legend from the city seal may allude to ship's ropes (appropriate for this naval town), and the two scallop shells flanking the date almost certainly continue the maritime theme.

Reverse

On Reverse, the ornate object is Norfolk's Royal Mace, presented to the Borough of Norfolk in 1753 by Lieutenant Governor Robert Dinwiddie, formally accepted by the Common Council in 1754 and cherished ever since as the city's greatest historical treasure. (It is in fact the only Royal Mace ever presented to an American city during Colonial times; it was removed and hidden during the Revolution and the Civil War, and remains most of the time in bank vault, seldom exhibited.) Flanking the 1636 date, which is that of the original Norfolk Land Grant, are two dogwood sprigs. In lower field, the monogram is WM(S) + MES, for William Marks Simpson and his wife Marjorie Emory Simpson, the coin's joint designers.

Mintage

Published Mintage: 16,923 + 13 assay.

The entire mintage of 25,013 Norfolk halves was coined in September at the Philadelphia Mint (the odd 13 pieces were reserved for assay and later destroyed). Orders had already been taken by the Norfolk Advertising Board at $1.65 apiece, with slight discounts for multi-coin purchases, and the first 15,000 sales were racked up fairly quickly, however, additional sales were slow in coming. Despite strong promotion by Board Manager F. E. Turin and increasingly generous discounts for quantities of the Norfolk halves, by 1938 5,000 coins had to be returned to the mint for melting. Another 3,077 were destroyed sometime later, leaving a net mintage of 16,923 halves.

The Norfolk halves were issued by the Norfolk Advertising Board in conjunction with the Norfolk Association of Commerce. They were delivered in a cardboard holder containing holes for up to five coins. This was covered in a lime green paper mailer, inscribed with the name of the coin issue, the reason for commemoration, the sponsors and their affiliated associations. A poem by Charles Day appears on the back of the mailer. For reasons unknown, only William Marks Simpson is acknowledged as designer, his wife's name being omitted. This packaging is a collectible in its own right and is highly sought by specialists in the commemorative series.

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

Catalog reference: KM 184.

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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