United States commemorative coin
The United States has minted numerous commemorative coins in remembrance of particular persons, places, events, and institutions. These coins are legal tender but are not intended for general circulation.
Many consider the 1848 2½ dollar gold piece counter stamped "CAL" to be the first U.S. commemorative coin, as it commemorated the finding of gold in California.
Most standard lists begin with the 1892 half dollar commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America. The following year, the Columbian Exposition quarter dollar featuring Queen Isabella of Spain was issued.
Most students of U.S. commemorative coinage acknowledge the gap between 1954 and 1982 by classifying those minted from 1892 to 1954 as Early Commemoratives, and those minted since 1982 as Modern Commemoratives.
In 1925, a commemorative 50-cent coin was released that showed Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Money raised from the sale of the coins was combined with money raised by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association in order to fund the carving of a Confederate monument at Stone Mountain.
The U.S. Mint was criticized for commemorative issues of dubious recognition and seemingly endless mint runs. As an example of the latter, the Oregon Trail Memorial 50-cent piece was minted 8 years during a 14-year span. Multiple unrelated commemoratives also were minted in many years, diminishing the significance of commemorative issues. In 1936 alone the following 19 commemorative half dollars were minted: Oregon Trail Memorial, Texas Centennial half dollar, Daniel Boone Bicentennial half dollar, Arkansas Centennial half dollar, San Diego California Pacific Exposition, Rhode Island Tercentenary half dollar, Cleveland/Great Lakes Exposition, Wisconsin Territorial Centennial half dollar, Cincinnati Music Center half dollar, Long Island Tercentenary half dollar, Bridgeport, Connecticut Centennial half dollar, Lynchburg, Virginia Sesquicentennial half dollar, Elgin Centennial half dollar, Albany Charter half dollar, San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge half dollar, Columbia, South Carolina Sesquicentennial half dollar, Delaware Tercentenary half dollar, Battle of Gettysburg half dollar, and Norfolk, Virginia Bicentennial half dollar. The period of Early Commemoratives ended with the 1954 issues of the Washington–Carver 50-cent piece.
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