$10 gold Washington commemorative – 1932

RWB

In 1931 a $10 gold coin commemorating the Washington bicentennial was proposed. There was to be a $1 surcharge. Do you think this large denomination coin would have sold well in 1932?

(President Hoover had already said he'd veto all commemorative ("special") coin bills sent for his signature.

Julian

Probably not, but I will take one. Did you find any proposed designs?

Mark

Roger:

It would have been ironic to have sold that gold coin in 1931 and than rounded them back up again in 1933. Anyway, given the state of the economy, I don't think there would have been a huge demand for buying $10 worth of gold for $11. Well-heeled collectors probably would have bought one or two, but I think the demand from others would have been minimal.

I thought the 1932 Washington quarter was initially proposed as a one-year commemorative. Was the $10 gold commemorative in addition to the quarter? Or was it an alternative?

RWB

The $10 was to be promoted as the "George Washington Bicentennial Eagle." Mint director Grant squashed the idea before it got any support.

The Treasury proposed a Washington quarter as a replacement for the Standing Liberty design. It was never a special commemorative, simply a circulating replacement much like the Peace dollar.

The coin’s story really revolves around the egos of Andrew Mellon and Charles Moore. Flanagan and Fraser got caught in the middle.

FYI – Flanagan’s original reverse had an eagle feeding her chicks.

BillJones

$11, even considering that it was for a $10 gold piece, would have to been too high for a commemorative coin PRIOR to the Great Depression. While some big time Wall Street rollers might have been able to put away $10, for most folks in the 1920s that would have been more than they would have been willing to spend. The Panama Pacific three piece set (half dollar, gold dollar and quarter eagle) sold for $7.50, and I don't think it sold that well even with a very successful world's fair to support those sales.

CaptHenway

<< <i>The $10 was to be promoted as the "George Washington Bicentennial Eagle." Mint director Grant squashed the idea before it got any support.

The Treasury proposed a Washington quarter as a replacement for the Standing Liberty design. It was never a special commemorative, simply a circulating replacement much like the Peace dollar.

The coin’s story really revolves around the egos of Andrew Mellon and Charles Moore. Flanagan and Fraser got caught in the middle.

FYI – Flanagan’s original reverse had an eagle feeding her chicks. >>




Like the American Eagle reverse? Interesting!

I doubt if they would have sold many of the commemorative $10's in 1932 at $11. Couple of thousand, maybe.

However, there were a lot of regular issue $10's made (and saved via exportation) in 1932. Had they done a one-year circulating commemorative $10 in 1932 they might have met the same fate. We'll never know.

Thanks for the tidbit, Roger!

TD