History Lesson: Classic Commemoratives #3

Nice way to start off the New Year talking about Classic Commemoratives. Based on the ANR results, things are looking good!

After 1954, no commemorative coins were minted until 1982, when half dollars were produced to observe the 250th anniversary of George Washington's birth.



Since 1982 many different and interesting issues have been made; including those commemorating the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games, the 1986 Statue of Liberty Centennial, and the 1990 Eisenhower Centennial, among others.
Not only are commemorative designs diverse, the artists and sculptors who conceived them are equally interesting. Gutzon Borglum, who carved statues of heroic size on the side of Stone Mountain in Georgia, designed a 1925-dated half dollar in connection with the work.




Similarly, Trygve A. Rovelstad, an Elgin, Illinois sculptor, created the Pioneer Memorial statuary group and also designed a commemorative half dollar featuring the same artistry. James Earle Fraser and his wife, Laura Gardin Fraser, both highly acclaimed sculptors, were connected with several different commemorative issues, including the beautiful Oregon Trail design. The list of coin designers and modelers is almost as long as the list of coins themselves and includes many artists in the private sector as well as Mint engravers. Charles E. Barber, George T. Morgan, John R. Sinnock, Gilroy Roberts, Frank Gasparro, Elizabeth Jones and John Mercanti, among others. Each artist had his or her own style captured for numismatic posterity in the coins surfaces.

And so end's this weeks lesson. Back At Ya Next Week