Commemoratives

The commemorative coinage of the United States is replete with issues celebrating everything from the mundane to the monumental. Often, many events...

The 1938 New Rochelle half dollar presents one of those curious aspects so peculiar to United States commemoratives in that it bears no...

In recent years, complaints that Congress is too careless in authorizing commemorative coin issues are frequently heard. It’s been said that too...

For at least a decade before the California gold rush of 1849, there was a growing migration of settlers to the West. Most...

Today, more than 80 years after the Panama Canal was completed, it remains one of the engineering marvels of the modern age. It took...

Commemorative coins were still something of a novelty in 1920 when Congress authorized the coining of half dollars to celebrate the three-hundredth...

Though America’s smallest state, Rhode Island nevertheless managed to obtain a commemorative coin of its own in 1936. This type marked the ...

The story of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island is a sobering reminder of how risky a journey to the New World was in...

The 100th anniversary of Arkansas’ statehood called for a number of celebrations, the grandest of which was scheduled for 1936 at the ...

Popularly known as the San Diego half dollar, this issue commemorates not that city but the exposition held there during the years...

By 1926, the frenzied Roaring Twenties was in a full-throated roar. God was in His heaven, Calvin Coolidge was in the White House,...

By the mid-1930s, U.S. commemorative coins were nothing new: in fact, the proliferation of issues was beginning to be viewed with disdain...

One of the more common U. S. commemorative coins, the Stone Mountain half dollar was a by-product of a much larger undertaking—the ...

"Remember the Alamo!” was the cry that spurred Texans on to ultimately defeat Mexico’s army and claim their independence as a republic....

To tourists, the state of Vermont is known primarily for its rich maple syrup and great wintertime skiing. To urban Northeasterners it is...

Some of the most notorious of United States commemorative coin programs began with the best of intentions, and that appears to have ...

When collectors are asked to identify their favorite U.S. commemorative coins, the answers given frequently include titles such as Oregon Trail, Panama-Pacific,...

Among the numerous complaints voiced over the proliferation of commemorative coins during the 1930s, one of the most frequent was that these...

When President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress in January, 1803, to appropriate $2500 for an exploratory expedition into the Pacific Northwest, negotiations to...

When the United States formally took possession of the Louisiana Territory on December 20, 1803, effectively doubling the size of the country,...

Judging solely by the number of times his portrait has appeared on coins and currency, William McKinley is one of the most highly...

The Panama Canal ranks among the greatest man-made marvels in the world—a 51-mile-long system of natural lakes, excavated channels and locks that...

The Panama Canal, or “Big Ditch,” as it has often been called, was constructed with a blend of sheer ingenuity and painstaking attention...

Ever since Balboa first gazed upon the Pacific Ocean in 1513, Europeans had dreamed and schemed of ways to connect the Gulf of Mexico...