Circulated half dollar commemoratives

shirohniichan

The first commemorative I ever saw was a Monroe Doctrine half my dad picked up from circulation some time in the mid to late 1940s (along with a bent half dime, a few 2 cent pieces, and other unusual coins).

I can see how coins bought for $1.00 to $1.50 before the Depression made their way into circulation during hard times. My dad's coin is probably VF to XF (I haven't looked at it in years).

How hard is it to find commems from after the Depression that actually circulated (viz. those that ended up as pocket pieces)? Are those below VF or so likely "created circs" (i.e. those purposely worn)?

Baley

How would one discern the difference between "circulation" and "pocket" wear of any given coin "found" in a dealer's inventory?

I'd expect the majority of heavily worn commemorative halves dated after the depression to be the result of pocket-piece carry rather than the thousands of transactions it would require, simply because people tend to save anything different received as change, rather than re-spend them.

Jackthecat1

I do not know how to tell a pocket piece from a coin used in commerce. From the large amount of circulated Columbian halves around, I would think that many of them, at least, were spent.

shirohniichan

BTW, my question about pocket pieces was referring to the practice of taking a collector coin and intentionally wearing it down. I wasn't referring to someone who took the coin from change and keeping it.

My 5th grade teacher had a 1921 Morgan he kept as a pocket piece, and it was P01 back in 1977. He pulled it from circulation during WWII.

I have a 1936 silver dollar that had been harshly cleaned, and I now have it as a pocket piece to wear off the effects of scrubbing. I hope to get it down to VG-F one of these days.

WillieBoyd2

Supposedly the unsold Columbian and Stone Mountain half-dollars were issued to circulation.

DDR

Interesting question. I have always toyed with the idea of putting together an uncertified circulated commem set.

braddick

Not always the case, yet coins pulled from circulation will have ultra micro nicks and such rather than smoother surfaces attributed more so with pocket pieces.

oih82w8

Originally posted by: braddick

Not always the case, yet coins pulled from circulation will have ultra micro nicks and such rather than smoother surfaces attributed more so with pocket pieces.

+1 This is what I was thinking.

ricko

As a young paper boy... it was not uncommon to get commems in change.... That period in my young career is what started me coin collecting... IHC's, commems, the occasional Morgan, V nickels... such were the coins of commerce at that time.



Good to see you posting Shiro... welcome back...



Cheers, RickO

BillJones

Originally posted by: WillieBoyd2
Supposedly the unsold Columbian and Stone Mountain half-dollars were issued to circulation.

Ditto for the Monroe half dollars, which the Hollywood people dumped into circulation after they sold them at a premium at their motion picture event.

keets

Shiro, I can't believe you actually posted again!!! when I first joined the forum you were prolific and then in the last 8-10 years(maybe more) you vanished!!! that was back in the heady days of the forum with such luminaries as littlewicher.

keets

because people tend to save anything different received as change, rather than re-spend them.



this is logical until you think about conditions for about 20 years from 1930-1950. people couldn't really afford to set aside 50 cents during the depression because it was different and the economic conditions meant that not many coins were struck from about 1930-1935. we have 20-30 circulated commems in inventory, no doubt worn from being used a number of years and then most likely retired.

shirohniichan

Originally posted by: keets
Shiro, I can't believe you actually posted again!!! when I first joined the forum you were prolific and then in the last 8-10 years(maybe more) you vanished!!! that was back in the heady days of the forum with such luminaries as littlewicher.

I've been tracking the 1944 steel cent lovedbygod97 was supposed to auction and trying to piece back Harold Green's collection (as sold via the many "final sales" by his widow, Deb).

Things have changed around here, haven't they?

ProofArtworkonCircs

I think Monroe halves were also put into circulation.

pocketpiececommems

I'm not going to guess at the total number that entered circulation compared to pocketpieces but alot of them sure did. There are 2 complete lowball 50 sets in the PCGS registry and 1 needing two to complete. I'm also working on the 144 set which is over 70% complete in PCGS holders. There are also numerous holed and or looped ones in both silver and gold.

Bob1951

Some issues were released into circulation. I don't know all of them. But there seems to be a lot of circulated Pilgrims, Columbians, and Monroe's for example. In most cases circulated classic commems are rarer than uncirculated ones. It is a challenging set to put together, simply because most issues are tough to find circulated. A circulated set in any grade specific (ag-xf) may be almost impossible . An au set may be plausible.





Bob