Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar
The Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar, sometimes called the Bennington–Vermont half dollar or the Battle of Bennington Sesquicentennial half dollar, is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1927. The coin was designed by Charles Keck, and on its obverse depicts early Vermont leader Ira Allen, brother of Ethan Allen.
Value
50 cents (0.50 US dollars)
12.5 g
30.61 mm (1.20 in)
2.15 mm (0.08 in)
- 90.0% silver
- 10.0% copper
0.36169 troy oz
1927
40,034 including 34 pieces for the Assay Commission (11,892 melted)
None, all pieces struck at the Philadelphia Mint without mint mark
1927
1927
On January 9, 1925, Vermont Senator Frank Greene introduced legislation for commemorative coins to mark the 150th anniversary of Vermont declaring itself fully independent in 1777 and of the American victory at the Battle of Bennington the same year. His bill passed the Senate without difficulty, but in the House of Representatives faced an array of problems. Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon sent a letter opposing the bill and dispatched three Treasury officials to testify against it, arguing that the public was being confused as special coin issues entered circulation. The committee's resolve to have no more commemorative coins—after this one—did not impress the full House, which added two more half dollars to the legislation to mark other anniversaries. The Senate agreed to the changes, and President Calvin Coolidge signed the authorizing act on February 24, 1925.
There was a lengthy battle over the design between the Commission of Fine Arts and the Vermont commission in charge of organizing the coin issue, as a result of which the original designer, Sherry Fry, left the project, replaced by Keck. Although the eventual reverse design of a catamount satisfied the Fine Arts Commission, it has been severely criticized by later writers. The coins did not sell out; over a fourth of the issue was returned for redemption and melting. The coins sell for at least in the hundreds of dollars today, depending on condition.
Legislation[edit]
Legislation for a silver fifty-cent piece and a gold one-dollar piece in commemoration of the 150th anniversaries of the Battle of Bennington and of the independence of Vermont was introduced in the Senate by that state's Frank Greene on January 9, 1925.[6] Greene had not always been a friend to commemorative coins: when the Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar was debated in 1922, he commented, "the question is whether the United States Government is going to go on from year to year submitting its coinage to this—well—harlotry."[7] His bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency.[6] Greene, a member of that committee, reported the bill back to the Senate on January 20, with an amendment and a recommendation that it pass.[8] The amendment deleted the proposed one-dollar piece and increased the mintage of the half dollar from 20,000 to 40,000. On January 24, New Hampshire's George H. Moses, acting on Greene's behalf, moved that the Senate consider the bill, and it passed that body without opposition.[9]
After the House received the Senate-passed bill, it was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures,[10] which held hearings on January 30, with the chairman, Indiana Representative Albert H. Vestal, presiding. He introduced into the record a letter from Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, opposing the measure. Mellon noted that many commemorative issues had failed to sell out, leaving coins in the Mint or returning them for melting. Mellon felt that the public was being confused as surplus commemoratives entered circulation. The Treasury had sent three officials, Mint Director Robert J. Grant, Assistant Director Mary M. O'Reilly and Garrard B. Winston, the assistant to the Undersecretary of the Treasury. O'Reilly, who had been with the Treasury longer than the other two, addressed the committee, warning that there were six coinage bills before Congress, and that the Mint had struck nine commemoratives in the past five years. She answered questions from the congressmen on the panel.[11]
Vermont Representative Frederick G. Fleetwood addressed the committee. O'Reilly had indicated that coins were being requested for local celebrations, and Fleetwood stressed the importance in American history of the events that were being commemorated.[12] Vestal and others supported a ban on the committee passing further commemorative coin bills, but wanted the Vermont bill to pass. For one thing, as Massachusetts' Robert M. Leach noted, President Calvin Coolidge was a Vermonter by birth. The Treasury officials were willing to support striking a medal rather than a coin, but as Illinois' Morton D. Hull pointed out, the sellers preferred a coin that could be spent if there was an unsold surplus, over a medal that could not. Leach's attitude toward approving more commemorative coins was typical: "I believe we have been going too fast, and I believe at some time we ought to quit it, but I dislike quitting on these gentlemen representing the State of Vermont this morning."[13] Vestal issued a report the same day, stating that the committee was against more commemorative coin issues, but that the Bennington issue should pass because of the national importance of the events of 1777, and because the issue of 40,000 was relatively small.[14]
The bill came to the floor of the House of Representatives on February 16. As soon as the bill was read, California Representative John E. Raker pressed an amendment to provide for a California Diamond Jubilee half dollar. He explained that Senator Samuel Shortridge had gotten a bill through the Senate that was nearly identical to his amendment, and "the Senator is exceptionally anxious that it go through."[15] Vestal asked to be heard in opposition to the amendment, stating that his committee, after recommending the Bennington bill, had decided to promote no further coin bills. He added that because of this, Washington Representative Albert Johnson had agreed to withdraw his bill for a commemorative honoring the centennial of Fort Vancouver, in his state. The Minority Leader, Democratic Congressman Finis J. Garrett of Tennessee, asked why the committee had not set the rule before considering the Bennington bill, and Vestal admitted that was hard to answer. The House voted, and the California amendment was added. But Representative Johnson to applause from his colleagues moved a further amendment, to add "and Vancouver, Wash." (that is, the state of Washington)[16] The amendment passed, as did the bill.[16] Johnson realized that such a simple amendment might not result in a coin being issued, and returned to the House floor soon thereafter, asking that the bill be reconsidered, so he could couch his amendment in the same phrasing as for the other two coins. Once the bill was again being considered, Johnson added his amendment, but Vestal moved that the bill be returned to his committee. His motion failed, 24 ayes to 67 noes. Lengthy procedural wrangling followed over whether that vote could be objected to because there was no quorum present. Once this was resolved, the House passed the bill again.[17] The bill was returned to the Senate the following day.[18] Kansas' Charles Curtis moved on behalf of Greene that the Senate agree to the House amendments,[19] and the bill, authorizing all three coins, was enacted by Coolidge's signature on February 24, 1925.[20] Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen, in their 1988 book on commemoratives, state that the bill would probably not have passed Congress if Coolidge had not been known to have an interest in the Bennington observances.[21]
Production, distribution, and collecting[edit]
A total of 40,034 Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint during January and February 1927, with the excess over the round number reserved for inspection and testing at the 1928 meeting of the annual Assay Commission.[35] They were distributed by local banks, which charged $1 per coin, and they sold principally to Vermonters. The distribution was coordinated by the Bennington Battle Monument and Historical Association of Bennington, Vermont.[33] Four banks in Bennington each received 2,000 coins for distribution, as did four banks in Rutland.[39] In 1929, the Bennington group was selling the coins by mail at a charge of $1.25 per coin by registered mail and $1 per coin for ten or more if the buyer paid for conveyance by an express company.[35]
Sales were not as robust as hoped.[35] In November 1928, Spargo wrote to Mint Director Grant, requesting information on how to return several thousand coins,[39] and by 1934, a total of 11,892 pieces had been returned to the Mint for redemption and melting.[35] Profits from the coin went to the Vermont Historical Trust, and were used to benefit museums and historical societies in the state, including the Bennington Museum.[34] Swiatek and Breen, alluding to the scandals that embroiled other commemorative coins, noted that "it is a testimony to something or other in Vermont that there was never the faintest breath of suspicion at any time about anything connected with the distribution of the coins."[33]
By 1935, the coins, in uncirculated condition, sold for about $2, a price increased by fifty cents during the commemorative coin boom of 1936. They had subsided to the $2 level by 1940, but thereafter increased steadily in value, peaking at $825 during the second commemorative coin boom in 1980.[28] The 2018 edition of R. S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins, published in 2017, lists the coin for between $250 and $750, depending on condition.[40] An exceptional specimen sold at auction in 2014 for $7,344.[41]
