# 796 - Early American Commemoratives - Part 17

Most of the info below comes from: https://earlycommemorativecoins.com/

"Commemorative coins were first issued by the United States Mint in 1892 to mark the World’s Columbian Exposition. The silver half dollars depicting Christopher Columbus were sold at the expedition for one dollar each. In subsequent years, the US Mint would continue the tradition of issuing gold and silver commemoratives to honor the important people, places, and events of the country.

Early commemorative coins were issued between the years 1892 and 1954 and have included primarily silver half dollars and gold dollars."

I will show the series "Silver Early Commemoratives". It will be presented in alphabetical order.

All coins weight 12.5g, with 90% silver purity.

The seventieth is a MS66 1936 "Lynchburg" Half Dollar.

"One of a few early commemorative coins to feature the likeness of a living person is the 1936 Lynchburg Sesquicentennial Half Dollar. The coins were issued to mark the 150th anniversary of the founding of Lynchburg, a city in Virginia."

PCGS graded 4,459 1936 "Lynchburg" Half Dollars, with 715 as MS66 and 200 above. 20,013 1936 "Lynchburg" were minted in Philadelphia.

Today's price of this coin is around $310.00.

"The obverse of the coins depicts Virginia Senator Carter Glass. As mentioned, he was living at the time the coins were minted and issued.

The designs for the coin were prepared by Charles Keck, who had designed a few other previous commemorative issues."

"On the reverse is a depiction of Liberty, standing before the Lynchburg courthouse. Interestingly, this is one of only two early commemoratives to feature an image of Liberty, the other being the 1926 Sesquicentennial Gold Quarter Eagle."

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