1935 S US Silver Commemorative 50C SAN DIEGO - NGC MS 67+

1935 S US Silver Commemorative 50C SAN DIEGO

Certified NGC MS 67+

Photos are of the actual coin you will receive.

About San Diego California Pacific Exposition Half Dollars
The issue commonly referred to as the San Diego Half Dollar was authorized to mark the California-Pacific International Exposition. The commemorative coins were first issued in 1935 struck at the San Francisco Mint, and later in 1936 struck at the Denver Mint.

The obverse design was based on elements of the California State Seal. Minerva is seated with a spear and shield bearing the word "Eureka", a grizzly bear is to her left, a horn of plenty is to the right and a ship and miner at work appear in the background. Inscriptions read UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, LIBERTY and HALF DOLLAR. The reverse image includes two of the exposition buildings, the observation tower and the State of California building. The words CALIFORNIA PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION, IN GOD WE TRUST, SAN FRANCISCO and the date in the center. The designer of the coin was Robert Aitken.

The full maximum authorized mintage of 250,000 pieces was struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1935 and sales began at the price of $1 each. After slow initial sales, the exposition sought and received Congressional approval to send back 180,000 of the unsold coins to be melted and reminted with the 1936 date. The 1936-dated coins would be struck at the Denver Mint and offered for sale at $1.50 each. Meanwhile, a remaining quantity of the 1935-dated coins were offered at $3 each. Later, the cost of the 1936 coins were also raised to $3 each.

Despite these efforts, sales progressed even more slowly. Eventually, 150,000 of the 1936 coins were sent back to the Mint for melting. After the entire convoluted process, total sales were 100,224 out of the 250,000 maximum authorized mintage.

About Early Commemorative Coins
Early Commemorative Coins were issued between the years 1892 and 1954 and have included primarily silver half dollars and gold dollars. Over the years additional denominations have been used including the silver quarter, silver dollar, several gold quarter eagles and one $50 gold piece. In total there were 50 different Silver Commemorative coin designs and 9 different Gold Commemorative coin designs. Each issue was typically authorized by an act of Congress which provided a specific maximum or minimum mintage requirement. Because legislation often did not specify otherwise, some Commemorative coin issues were produced in multiple years or struck at multiple mints.