United States | |
| Value | 50 cents (0.50 US dollars) |
|---|---|
| Mass | 12.5[1] g |
| Diameter | 30.61 mm (1.20[1] in) |
| Thickness | 2.15 mm (0.08[2][3] in) |
| Edge | Reeded[1] |
| Composition |
|
| Silver | 0.36169[1] troy oz |
| Years of minting | 1937 (dated 1938) |
| Mintage | 25,015 including 15 pieces for the Assay Commission (9,749 melted) |
| Mint marks | None, all pieces struck at the Philadelphia Mint without mint mark |
| Obverse | |
 | |
| Design | John Pell and "Fatt Calfe" |
| Designer | Gertrude K. Lathrop |
| Design date | 1937 |
| Reverse | |
 | |
| Design | Fleur de lis |
| Designer | Gertrude K. Lathrop |
| Design date | 1937 |
The New Rochelle 250th Anniversary half dollar is a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint to mark the 250th anniversary of the settling of New Rochelle in Westchester County, New York. Artist Gertrude K. Lathrop designed the piece; she was chosen after work by Lorrilard Wise was rejected by the federal Commission of Fine Arts (CFA). The coin depicts a fatted calf on one side, being led by John Pell, who sold the land on which New Rochelle now stands; the other shows a fleur de lis, an element of the city seal of New Rochelle and of France's La Rochelle, its eponym. The piece is dated 1938 but was minted the previous year. The New Rochelle piece was the last new-design commemorative struck by the Mint until 1946.
Aware of the many commemorative issues being authorized by the U.S. Congress in the mid-1930s, members of the Westchester County Coin Club sought a half dollar for the New Rochelle anniversary. They gained the support of members of Congress, who secured the passage of legislation for the half dollar during 1936. After Wise's work was rejected, Lathrop was hired based on her work on the Albany Charter half dollar (1936). She decided to depict the "fatt calfe" which was to be presented annually to Pell if he asked for it, lest New Rochelle's land be forfeited back to him. The CFA approved her work, and the coins were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1937.
New Rochelle's coin committee sold the half dollar for $2 locally, and by mail order to all 48 states and internationally, during late 1937 and early 1938. When sales slowed, 9,749 pieces were returned to the mint for redemption and melting. They have risen in price and now sell in the low hundreds of dollars. Lathrop's work has been both praised and criticized by numismatic commentators.
- ^ a b c d e Yeoman, p. 1093.
- ^ Flynn, p. 354.
- ^ Crowell's Dictionary of Business and Finance. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company. 1923. p. 121. OCLC 1123997620.