United States 1938 half dollar KM-191
Authorization
This half dollar commemorates the 250th anniversary of the settlement of New Rochelle, New York. A prosperous suburb of New York City, it is only "Forty-Five Minutes from Broadway," this being the name of a popular 1906 song by showman George M. Cohan. In a somewhat more contemporary reference, New Rochelle is known also as the 1960s home of television characters Rob and Laura Petrie in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Proceeds from the sales of New Rochelle half dollars financed a 250th anniversary festival held June 10-19, 1938. The New Rochelle coins were specifically to be dated 1938, irrespective of when they were coined. This guaranteed that there would be only a single coin that collectors need acquire to keep their sets complete.
Obverse
The gentleman and calf portrayed on the obverse of this coin by Gertrude K. Lathrop, relate the form of payment made for this land when first settled by French Huguenots in 1688. John Pell, Lord of Pelham Manor, sold 6,000 acres to Jacob Leisler, who was acting as agent for the colonists. Among the terms of sale was the provision that Leisler and his heirs would furnish to "John Pell his heirs and assigns Lords of the said Mannor of Pelham . . as an Acknowledgment to the said Mannor one fat calf on every four and twentieth day of June Yearly and Every Year forever [if demanded]." . Arranged in arcs around the periphery and separated by asterisks are the legends NEW•ROCHELLE•NEW•YORK and SETTLED• 1688•INCORPORATED•1899. The artist's initials GKL appear to the right of the calf's forelegs.
Reverse
The reverse of this coin type is dominated by a fleur de lis, an element found within the city's coat of arms and borrowed from the arms of La Rochelle, France. Arranged in arcs around the periphery are the statutory inscriptions UNITED•STATES•OF•AMERICA, E•PLURIBUS•UNUM, LIBERTY and IN• GOD• WE•TRUST. The date 1938 and value HALF•DOLLAR appear at the bottom in two lines. This design was approved by the Commission of Fine Arts shortly after its submission and later by the Treasury Department on February 25, 1937.
Mintage
The total authorized mintage of 25,015 halves (which includes 15 coins reserved for assay) was produced at the Philadelphia Mint in April of 1937. Though the coins were sponsored by the Westchester County Coin Club, their distribution was assigned to the First National Bank of New Rochelle. A number of coins of were sold locally at $2 apiece but, in keeping with most commemorative programs, the majority went to coin collectors placing mail orders. Allowing for postage, a single coin by mail cost $2.18, or two for $4.21 and five for $10.27. These orders were filled by the New Rochelle Commemorative Coin Committee. Sales were directed by none other than Julius Guttag, a resident of New Rochelle but also a partner in Guttag Brothers of New York City, a numismatic and securities dealership. When sales slowed to a trickle, members of the Westchester County Coin Club bought up hundreds of the coins at face value. The remaining pieces, some 9,749 halves in all, were returned to the Philadelphia Mint shortly after the festivities in June of 1938.
Published Mintage: 15,266.
Specification: 192.9 grains = 12.50 grams, 0.900 fine silver, 30.6 mm diameter, reeded edge.
Catalog reference: KM 191.
- 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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