Albany Charter half dollar

The Albany Charter half dollar, also known as the Albany-Dongan half dollar or Albany half dollar, is a commemorative half dollar struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. It was designed by sculptor Gertrude K. Lathrop, who lived in Albany, New York's state capital.

In 1936, Congress approved many commemorative coins for issuance, including some of mostly local significance. These included the Albany piece, wanted by city officials to mark the 250th anniversary of the 1686 grant of its municipal charter by Thomas Dongan, governor of colonial New York. The authorizing bill passed through Congress without opposition, though amendments added protections for coin collectors against abuses seen in earlier commemorative issues. Lathrop's designs have generally been praised: she placed a beaver on one side of the coin, modeled from life (one appears on Albany's city seal) and depicted the persons involved in the grant of the charter on the other. After approval of the designs by the Commission of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Mint coined 25,013 Albany half dollars in October 1936, including 13 pieces for testing by the Assay Commission.

By the time of issuance, the demand for commemorative coins was falling, and the issue price of $2 was considered high. More than 7,000 were returned to the Mint in 1943, and a hoard of over 2,000 was sold by a local bank in 1954 at the original issue price. The Albany half dollar prices in the low hundreds of dollars, but the original packaging, if undamaged, may sell for more.

Background

Further information: Dongan Charter

The first European to visit the site of Albany, New York, was the Englishman Henry Hudson in 1609. In 1624, the Dutch established Fort Orange there as a permanent settlement. The English took control of the area in 1664, but there remained Dutch property claims. In 1685, Fort Orange's name was changed to Albany, after James, Duke of Albany, the future James II. The following year, Pieter Schuyler and Robert Livingston went to New York City, the colonial capital of New York, to obtain a municipal charter for Albany from Governor Thomas Dongan. Schuyler became the first mayor of Albany; Livingston was made the clerk of the city and county of Albany and thus entitled to fees. The city became the capital of New York State in 1797.<1><2>

Until 1954, the entire mintage of commemorative coin issues was sold by the government at face value to a group authorized by Congress, which then tried to sell the coins at a profit to the public. The new pieces then entered the secondary market; in early 1936 all earlier commemoratives sold at a premium to their issue prices. The apparent easy profits to be made by purchasing and holding commemoratives attracted many to the coin collecting hobby, where they sought to purchase the new issues. This led to many commemorative coin proposals in Congress, including some of purely local significance,<3> such as the Albany half dollar.<4> The group designated to purchase the Albany half dollar from the government was a committee to be established by Albany's mayor.<5>

Legislation

Portrait of Pieter Schuyler painted by Nehemiah Partridge between 1710 and 1718

Legislation for a commemorative half dollar in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Albany was introduced into the House of Representatives on April 23, 1935, by Parker Corning of New York. It was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures.<7> On February 17, 1936, it was reported back to the House, with a recommendation that it pass after being amended.<8> The amendment increased the authorized mintage from 10,000 half dollars to 25,000, and required that a committee of at least three people appointed by Albany's mayor be empowered to order the coins from the Mint (the original bill permitted an individual to have that power). Congressman Corning brought the bill to the House floor on March 25, and it passed without debate or opposition.<9>

In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency on March 26, 1936.<10> Only two weeks earlier, on March 11, a subcommittee of the Banking Committee led by Colorado's Alva B. Adams had examined abuses of commemorative coin issuers.<11> The subcommittee had heard of the commemorative coin abuses of the time, when issuers often increased the number of coins needed for a complete set by having them issued at different mints with different mint marks; existing legislation placed no prohibition on this.<12> Lyman W. Hoffecker, a Texas coin dealer and official of the American Numismatic Association, testified that some coins like the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926, had been issued over the course of years with different dates and mint marks. Other issues had been entirely bought up by single dealers, and some low-mintage varieties of commemorative coins were selling at high prices. The many varieties and inflated prices for some issues that resulted from these practices angered coin collectors trying to keep their collections current.<13>

Adams reported the Albany bill back to the Senate on May 21, 1936, with a proposed amendment.<14> The amendment entirely rewrote the bill, imposing restrictions such as a one-year limit for issuance of the coins from the Mint after enactment of the bill, and that they be struck at only one of the mints. The bill was considered by the Senate on June 1, and the bill was amended and passed without discussion or dissent.<15> As the two houses had not passed identical versions, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, where, on June 3, James M. Mead of New York moved that the House accept the Senate amendment; it did so without recorded discussion or dissent.<16> The bill became law on June 16, 1936, with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizing the minting of 25,000 half dollars. The law authorized the Albany committee to sell the half dollars at face value or at a premium, and required that the proceeds go to defray the cost of the anniversary celebrations.<17><18>⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠