1926 Gold Commemoratives 1903-1926 MS62

History

Congress authorized coinage for the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, celebrated at the Sesquicentennial International Exposition in Philadelphia, providing for a commemorative half dollar of up to one million pieces and up to 200,000 gold quarter eagles, with proceeds applied to the Exposition's costs. An earlier request for a $1.50 gold piece, a denomination the United States had never struck, was rejected. The coins sold for $4.00 each, a 60 percent premium over face value, and sales fell far short of the authorization; buyers at the Exposition received them loose, while mail orders went out through the Franklin Trust Company of Philadelphia in small envelopes printed with the bank's name in blue ink. It was the last classic-era United States commemorative struck in gold, and no gold commemoratives followed until the modern program of the 1980s.

Details

John R. Sinnock, who had become Chief Engraver in 1925, designed both sides. Philadelphia struck the coins without a mint mark in May and June 1926, producing 200,226 pieces, the odd 226 reserved for assay. When sales stalled, 154,207 unsold coins went back to the melting pot, leaving a net distributed mintage of 46,019.

Features

The obverse carries a standing figure of Liberty holding a scrolled Declaration of Independence in one hand and the Torch of Freedom in the other, with the dual dates 1776 and 1926. Independence Hall occupies the reverse. At the request of the Commission of Fine Arts the dies were cut in low relief so the coins could be produced quickly, and that shallow modeling is the source of the chronic softness that plagues the issue. No major doubled dies or die varieties are recognized, though a small number of matte proofs are known, sharper in detail than the circulation strikes, along with separate obverse and reverse die trials in copper and brass. Counterfeits are the real hazard here: at least two issues exist, and one example examined by NGC showed porous surface texture, windows on Independence Hall of the wrong shape, and a scowling expression on Liberty, while being struck in gold at close to the correct weight and fineness so that specific-gravity testing alone would not expose it.

Notable facts

• This is the largest mintage of any early United States gold commemorative, far exceeding the next-highest issues, the 1903 and 1904 Louisiana Purchase gold dollars.
• PCGS reports MS64 as the most frequently encountered grade, followed by MS63 and MS65, with MS66 scarce.
• PCGS alone has graded more than 11,000 examples, close to a quarter of the entire distributed mintage.
• Sinnock went on to design the Roosevelt dime and the Franklin half dollar two decades later.
• The companion Sesquicentennial half dollar was the first United States coin to depict a living president, showing Coolidge jugate with Washington, and only 141,120 of the more than one million struck were sold.
• The Bethlehem National Bank of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania issued the quarter eagles in Christmas card holders imprinted with the Liberty Bell and the anniversary dates, and surviving holders bring a premium.