For Those Who Collect Classic Commems, Just Added This New Addition Of A Most Popular Series.

You're on a roll.
Beautiful coin.

Congrats on your new acquisition, it looks very choice. I personally do not collect the series but do have an example of an Oregon in my collection as well.

The Oregon Trail is one of the best designs in the classic commemorative series. Your '36-S is very well struck. I sometimes wonder what the collectors of that time thought of a series that was dragged out over a period of 13 years. Was it an obvious money grab? After the initial offerings in 1926, when 48,000 Philadelphia and 83,000 San Francisco coins were sold, most had sales of fewer than 7,000.

Beautiful coin!

BTW, the Wagon side is the obverse.

@CaptHenway said:
Beautiful coin!

BTW, the Wagon side is the obverse.

That's so obvious it escaped me lol when I put one in my 7070.
I just corrected that.
Beautiful coin @jfriedm56
That' also my favorite commem design

@jfriedm56 said:
@CaptHenway, thanks Tom. I saw your reference to this in another post about a new book written by a new member who hadn’t realized this. I had read an article about this same controversy some time ago.
A question for you then: was this done as a marketing tool to make the series more appealing and popular? As the Native American image is so much more powerful than a Conestoga wagon. Even though I get that this was to commemorate the immigration west along the Oregon Trail by wagon. Thanks.
Zack.

I don't think it was "Marketing" as I learned it when I got my degree in Bus. Ad, with a major in Marketing. Nobody was trying to sell anything. I think it was just people trying to be "cute" by putting the Native American in front of the wagon with his hand up as if to say "Stop!"

For the sake of those who did not see the other thread, here are the images I posted from the 1927 Mint Report.

A very nice example!

A coin in my collection with a mintage of only 3,000 pieces. The lowest in the series.

Mark Goodman image

Authorized by Congress on May 17, 1926 (sponsored by Rep. Addison Smith of Idaho and Sen. Wesley Jones of Washington State)  commemorating the heroism of the fathers and mothers who traversed the Oregon Trail to the Far West with great hardship, daring, and loss of life, which not only resulted in adding new States to the Union but earned a well-deserved and imperishable fame for the pioneers; to honor the twenty thousand dead that lie buried in unknown graves along two thousand miles of that great highway of history; to rescue the various important points along the old trail from oblivion; and to commemorate by suitable monuments, memorial or otherwise, the tragic events associated with that emigration—erecting them either along the trail itself or elsewhere, in localities appropriate for the purpose, including the city of Washington.

Design:
Obverse: According to the designers, the Indian side is the obverse. James Earle Fraser designer, model by Laura Gardin Fraser. Ninety-eight percent of the collectors, dealers and numismatists prefer/refer to the American Indian representation as the obverse side, I’m with the 98%. How-be-it, since the Mint appears to have the last word, the official obverse is the wagon side. Depicted is a Conestoga wagon drawn by two oxen going over a hill, guided by a figure holding a stick or branch. All are trekking westward toward the setting sun, whose rays extend across the upper field. The inscription OREGON TRAIL MEMORIAL, as well as five small decorative stars located below the inscription, appear in the field above the date of issue. Our motto IN GOD WE TRUST is observed in the upper border, while the designer’s initials [JE], [F], [LG ] are located at the three o’clock position, or in back of the Conestoga wagon. Laura Gardin Fraser designed the Alabama, Grant (both the silver and gold denominations) and the Fort Vancouver issues.

Reverse: Portrayed is an American Indian who appears to be signaling to an advancing person or group of individuals that all should come to a stop—similar to the indication given by today’s traffic policeman. No individual tribe is represented. Facing to his left or the coin’s right, the Indian is wearing a long feathered bonnet. He holds a bow in his right hand, while he has a blanket situated over his left -shoulder. Extending on both sides of the Indian is an outline of the map of the United States, with a line of Conestoga wagon indicating the Oregon Trail.
An inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is observed superimposed on the map. The denomination appears in the lower border, while the mintmark—if the coin should posses such, is located to the right of the letter F in the word HALF.

Beautiful high-end example!

Superb addition!!

1) Oregon commem
2) Texas commem
3) Connecticut commems
My top 3 and not necessarily in that order