2017-08-21 Mon

Five 1936 York County Maine, Tercentenary half dollars, all colourfully toned with apparently undisturbed original surfaces reached high levels in grading service slabs with the Mint State 68 grade or higher.

But, none of the five commemorative coins crossed the auction block at Centennial Auctions and were graded and encapsulated by a third party grading service. Centennial’s lead auctioneer, Steve Schofield shared his views and said the auction house doesn’t prefer to have coin lots graded and encapsulated, instead, they want potential buyers to evaluate the coins themselves and bid accordingly.

The lot of five York County half dollars, cconsigned by a family who only recently discovered the coins, realized $17,825. The coins were placed in a cardboard holder with historical information in which York National Bank issued the coins, priced at $ 1.50 per coin, in 1936 from its Saco, Maine, premises.

The silver commemorative half dollars were housed in their original cardboard packaging for many years and hence they are so toned. The average price of $3,565 per coin exceeds the value for MS-68 examples in published price guides, including Coin World’s Coin Values, as well as prices realized for examples of the commemoratives in MS-68 in major coin auctions.

On 17th July, the auction bidding began at $8,000 as many interested parties made absentee bids. Schofield also added that the coins were exceptional but he never expected Success of this kind. The family discovered the five coins, for whom Centennial sold a coin and a stamp collection a year ago. The family was clueless about the coins, until the spring when the family was cleaning out a dresser and discovered the .900 fine silver coins in the back of one of the drawers.

The coins apparently had been purchased by a family member upon the commemorative coin release in 1936.

The family were in two minds about the worth of the coins but decided to contact Schofield anyway. Within no time, Schofield headed to meet the family after he saw pictures of the coins on his cell phone.

In Philadelphia, the Congressional legislation authorized the release of 30,000 commemorative half dollars struck at a single Mint. The Committee for the Commemoration of the Founding of York County selected Portland, Maine, artist Walter Rich to execute the adopted designs.

The obverse depicts the original settlement of Brown’s Garrison, the site in Saco on which York National Bank was chartered in 1803; a rising sun in the background and a horse and rider in the foreground. The design is based on artwork in Frank C. Deering’s 1931 work, The Proprietors of Saco. The reverse illustrates the York County seal, depicting a cross within a shield, with a pine tree at the upper left.

Single coins priced at $1.50 each, were packed in paper coin envelopes, with two different slotted insert folders capable of holding five coins each. Coins shipped to out-of-state buyers were $1.65 each postpaid.

The total mintage was 25,015, which included 15 coins for assay purposes.