History
Many consider the 1848 2½ dollar gold piece counter stamped "CAL" to be the first U.S. commemorative coin, as it commemorated the finding of gold in California.
Most standard lists begin with the 1892 half dollar commemorating the 400th anniversary of Columbus' voyage to America. The following year, the Columbian Exposition quarter dollar featuring Queen Isabella of Spain was issued.
Most students of U.S. commemorative coinage acknowledge the gap between 1954 and 1982 by classifying those minted from 1892 to 1954 as Early Commemoratives, and those minted since 1982 as Modern Commemoratives.
In 1925, a commemorative 50-cent coin was released that showed Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. Money raised from the sale of the coins was combined with money raised by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association in order to fund the carving of a Confederate monument at Stone Mountain.
The U.S. Mint was criticized for commemorative issues of dubious recognition, and seemingly endless mint runs (the Oregon Trail Memorial 50-cent piece was minted 8 years during a 14-year span). The period of Early Commemoratives ended with the 1954 issues of the Washington–Carver 50-cent piece.
Read more about this topic: United States Commemorative Coin
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