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1935-36 San Diego Half Dollar |
1935-36 San Diego Half Dollar
Mintage 100,224
Some coins are known by shorthand names which tend to confuse their true identity. That's the case, for instance, with the so-called San Diego half dollar of 1935-36. It was issued to commemorate a world's fair held in San Diego: the California-Pacific International Exposition. The coin was intended as a souvenir of the fair and also as a means of helping raise funds to defray the cost of staging the event. Though highly commercial in nature, it's looked upon as one of the more artistic U.S. commemorative coins. Its obverse shows a seated female figure, said to be the goddess Minerva, with a grizzly bear at her right and an overflowing cornucopia at her left. The bear is an emblem of California and the cornucopia is meant to represent the riches of the state. Faintly discernible in the background ate a miner with a pickax; a sailing ship and mountains-all of which are likewise symbols of the state. The coin's reverse portrays the graceful State of California Buildings at the exposition, with the Chapel of St. Francis at the left and the California Tower at the right. The coin was designed by Robert Aitken. Like the exposition itself, the San Diego half dollar had two separate "seasons": It was issued in both 1935 and 1936. What's more, it was produced in a different mint each year. Congress authorized 250,000 pieces in 1935 and all were made, with production taking place at the San Francisco Mint However, 180,000 were returned to the Mint' for melting-then recoined, with congressional approval, in 1936 at the Denver Mint. Net mintages are 70,132 pieces dated 1935 and 30,092 dated 1936. This is an aesthetically pleasing, relatively inexpensive coin, and as such it has enjoyed increasing popularity. Value $50 - $143 |
