Episode 1450
Old Spanish Trail half dollar
Sat, 2021-Apr-24 01:09 UTC
Length - 2:49
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day where we read the summary of the featured Wikipedia article every day.
The featured article for Saturday, 24 April 2021 is Old Spanish Trail half dollar.
The Old Spanish Trail half dollar was a commemorative coin struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935. It was designed by L. W. Hoffecker, a coin dealer, who also was in charge of its distribution.
In 1930, President Herbert Hoover vetoed the Gadsden Purchase half dollar bill. Hoffecker had been the moving force behind that bid, and he sought another commemorative coin proposal that he could control if authorizing legislation was passed. He chose the travels of Spanish officer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in the early 16th century. Hoffecker took liberties both with the timing of Cabeza de Vaca's travels and their location; though Hoffecker's hometown of El Paso, Texas, is featured on the coin, Cabeza de Vaca came nowhere near its site. All this made little difference to Congress, which passed the Old Spanish Trail coin bill without opposition, and it was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Once they were struck, Hoffecker purchased the coins from the government and sold them to collectors, ostensibly on behalf of the local museum, but in fact for his personal profit, something he later denied in testimony before Congress. There were no complaints about the distribution printed in the pages of The Numismatist (a journal on coin collecting) and Hoffecker went on to the presidency of the American Numismatic Association in 1939. Hoffecker's design for the coin, featuring the head of a cow, has brought mixed reviews from numismatic commentators. The fact that only 10,000 of the half dollars were struck has made them prized among those seeking to complete a "type set" of early commemorative coins, that is one coin of each different design.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:09 UTC on Saturday, 24 April 2021.
For the full current version of the article, see Old Spanish Trail half dollar on Wikipedia.
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This has been Brian Standard. Thank you for listening to featured Wiki of the Day.
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