The Illinois Centennial half dollar is a commemorative 50-cent piece struck by the United

States Bureau of the Mint in 1918. The obverse, depicting Abraham Lincoln, was designed
by Chief Engraver George T. Morgan; the reverse, based on the Seal of Illinois, was by his
assistant and successor, John R. Sinnock. Morgan's obverse is based on the statue by Andrew
O'Connor.
A commemorative was wanted by the State of Illinois to mark the centennial of its 1818
admission to the Union, and in 1918, legislation was introduced into Congress to accomplish this.
It met no opposition, though several amendments were made during the legislative process. After
it passed, the two engravers produced designs, but Treasury Secretary William G.
McAdoo required changes, not all of which were made.
The coins were minted in August 1918, and were sold to the public for $1 each. All sold, though
many were held by a bank until 1933, and the profits used to defray the cost of local centennial
celebrations or to help those in need because of World War I. Later writers have generally
admired the coin, considering it one of the more handsome American commemoratives. The coin
is valued in the hundreds of dollars today, though exceptional specimens may trade for more.

Contents
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 1Legislation
 2Preparation and design
 3Production, distribution, and collecting
 4References
 5Sources
 6External links

Legislation[edit]
The State of Illinois wanted a commemorative coin to be issued for the centennial of its 1818
admission to the Union.[1] A bill that would accomplish this, H.R. 8764, was introduced into
the U.S. House of Representatives on January 16, 1918 by that state's Loren E. Wheeler. It was
referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures,[2][3] which held hearings on March
5. Wheeler told the committee (of which he was not a member) that the coins were desired for
distribution during the celebrations in Illinois. He had been to see Treasury Secretary William G.
McAdoo and Mint Director Raymond T. Baker. Neither had any objection to the legislation,
though McAdoo had explained that the problem with commemorative coins was that they did not
sell as well as expected, and many were returned to the Mint for melting. After telling of his
meeting with the officials, Wheeler explained to the committee that the coins would be purchased
by the State Treasurer of Illinois and so there would be no returns. James L. Slayden of Texas
asked what the cost to the federal government would be, but Wheeler did not know. Slayden
asked what had been the cost for the 1916–1917 McKinley Birthplace Memorial dollar, and
Ohio's William A. Ashbrook, the chairman of the committee, said that the cost of the dies had
been borne by the group purchasing the coins from the government; Ashbrook proposed
amending the bill to make this clear this would be an expense to be paid by Illinois. Wheeler had
no objection, and stated that to avoid returns, it might be best if the issue was limited to 100,000
coins rather than the 200,000 in the original bill. Ashbrook then asked if the coins were to be sold
at a premium by the centennial committee, and Wheeler denied this, indicating that they were to
be circulated like any other half dollar. This concluded the public hearing on the bill, with the
committee to take further action in executive session.[4]
On March 12, Ashbrook submitted a report on behalf of his committee recommending passage of
the bill once it had been amended to reduce the authorized mintage from 200,000 to 100,000
and to add a statement that the United States government would not be responsible for the cost
of the dies.[5]
Wheeler presented the bill on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 6, 1918. He was
quizzed by North Carolina's Claude Kitchin, who asked whether there had been a unanimous
recommendation by the committee, whether McAdoo and Baker had approved the bill, and
whether there was precedent for a half dollar in honor of a state's centennial (there was not).
Wheeler reassured Kitchin as to the unanimity of the committee, and the approval by the officials,
but did not answer the centennial question definitively, instead citing instances of prior
commemorative issues (the Louisiana Purchase Exposition dollar and the Panama-Pacific
commemorative coins). Ashbrook intervened, assuring Kitchin that his committee had
unanimously approved it. Kitchin had no more questions, and the House approved the bill without
a recorded vote.[6]
H. R. 8742 was transmitted to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Banking
and Currency. That committee's chairman, Oklahoma's Robert L. Owen, reported it back with an
amendment to the full Senate, where the bill was considered on May 21, 1918. The House-
passed bill had said the laws relating to the minor coinage of the United States (the cent and
nickel) would apply to the coin; this was changed to state that the laws relating to the subsidiary
silver coinage (which the half dollar was) would apply. The bill was passed as amended without
objection. Later in the day, Illinois Senator James Hamilton Lewis made a statement which was
inserted in the Congressional Record at this point, applauding the passage of the honor to his
home state, and noting that "more than a hundred thousand of her sons" were then being
deployed to the battlefields of World War I.[7]
Since the versions the two houses had passed were not identical, the bill returned to the House
of Representatives, where on May 25, Arizona's Carl Hayden successfully moved that the House
agree to the Senate amendment. The Speaker, Champ Clark, felt that the title of the bill might
have to be changed for reasons he did not explain, but Hayden disagreed and Clark did not
press his point. The bill passed the House,[8] and was enacted by the signature of
President Woodrow Wilson on June 1, 1918.[2]

Preparation and design[edit]

Part of the statue of Lincoln by Andrew O'Connoron the State Capitol grounds at Springfield, Illinois

The designs were prepared internally in the Engraving Department at the Philadelphia Mint. The
obverse design, depicting Abraham Lincoln, was created by Chief Engraver George T.
Morgan.[9] The Chief Engraver worked from a photograph of a statue of Lincoln designed
by Andrew O'Connor and unveiled in Springfield (the city where Lincoln lived for much of his
adult life) in August 1918. Lincoln is shown beardless, as he was when living in Illinois before he
was elected president in 1860.[10] He was chosen to be on the coin as Illinois' most famous
resident.[11] The obverse also contains the mottoes LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST, as well as an
inscription noting the centennial.[12]
The reverse was designed by the assistant engraver who would succeed Morgan on his death in
1925, John R. Sinnock.[9] It is an adaptation of the Seal of Illinois, an eagle perched on a rock
mound, with the rising sun beyond it. The bird holds in its beak a scroll with the Illinois state
motto, STATE SOVEREIGNTY, NATIONAL UNION and it clutches the Federal shield.[13] An olive
branch is seen, but without any arrows representing war, even though these symbols are often
paired on U.S. coins. Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen suggested "their presence on a coin
designed during the concluding months of World War I might have been considered just a bit
raw".[10] The reverse also bears the legends, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, E PLURIBUS UNUM (the
national motto, meaning "out of many, one") and HALF DOLLAR.[13]

The reverse of the coin is based on the Seal of Illinois.

Secretary McAdoo had originally rejected the submissions. Acting Mint Director Mary M.
O'Reilly wrote to Philadelphia Mint Superintendent Adam M. Joyce on June 24, 1918, relaying
the Treasury Secretary's concerns. McAdoo "specifically direct[ed]" that the Illinois state motto be
deleted from the scroll in the eagle's beak on the reverse, to be replaced with the national one.
Joyce was told to follow the provisions of the Coinage Act of 1873 requiring that on one side
there be the word LIBERTY, a design emblematic of it, and the year of striking, with the other side
an eagle with the name of the country and the denomination of the coin.[14] Despite McAdoo's
order, the Illinois inscription was retained on the scroll. Don Taxay, in his book on
commemoratives, speculated it might have been the Illinois Centennial Commission that had
insisted on this.[15]

Cornelius Vermeule felt that the use of the sun on the Illinois coin recalled works such as the Walking
Liberty half dollar (first issued 1916).

Later commentators have praised the coin. Taxay deemed the obverse "undoubtedly the finest
work Morgan ever did in his forty-eight years with the Mint. The head is not merely well drawn,
there is in it a depth of feeling, and introspective mood that almost makes the observer feel he is
intruding on the great man."[16] Writers on commemorative coins, including Arlie Slabaugh and
David M. Bullowa, also admired the Illinois piece. Q. David Bowers deemed Sinnock's reverse
"the finest work he ever did for a legal tender coin", not excluding the Roosevelt dime (1946)
and Franklin half dollar (1948, posthumous).[17] Bowers noted that the border of both sides of the
coin consists of beads and pellets, "an attractive substitute for denticles".[9]
Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his 1971 book on the artistry of American coins and medals,
wrote that "Morgan's interpretation has captured the restless plasticity of [O'Connor's] bust, yet
another indication of the benefits for coin design of good monumental models in sculpture".[18] He
noted of Sinnock's reverse, "the little burst of sun at the right is almost a bow to the Roty–Saint-
Gaudens–Weinman developments outside the Philadelphia Mint in American numismatic taste
and iconography in the generation following 1900. Sinnock's composition can be called
conventional, but the entire aura of the coin reflects American art after the Civil War, and this is
perhaps truly appropriate for the only [pre-1954] commemorative coin to honor Abraham
Lincoln."[19]

Production, distribution, and collecting[edit]

The people of Illinois will be pardoned if they feel a little "chesty" over their Illinois Centennial half dollar. Besides
being a very handsome piece of money, it is the first of its class to be issued by the government. None of our
previous souvenir coins has been for the purpose of commemorating an occasion, event or undertaking that was
confined entirely by the boundaries of a single state. It is distinctly an Illinois coin.
Frank G. Duffield, editor of The Numismatist, at the 1918 convention of the American Numismatic Association in
Philadelphia[20]

A total of 100,058 Illinois Centennial half dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint during
August 1918, with the excess over the round number reserved for inspection and testing at the
1919 meeting of the annual Assay Commission.[21] There was no official packaging; a few were
used in badges for the Illinois Centennial Commission.[22] The coins were not publicized much
outside Illinois. The centennial commission distributed them, at face value, to its county affiliates
in proportion to their share of Illinois' population, on condition they be sold at a premium to help
pay for local celebrations, and if one had already been held, for war relief.[23]
The coins were also sold by the Springfield Chamber of Commerce at $1 each, though some
were eventually vended for less: Texas coin dealer B. Max Mehl purchased several thousand at
just over face value. A local bank held 30,000 of them for 15 years, and sold them during
the 1933 Bank Holiday for a slight advance on par. This temporarily flooded the market, but they
were absorbed during the first commemorative coin boom in 1936,[9] though the price did not then
rise from the $1.25 they had sold for since about 1925. At the height of the second
commemorative coin boom in 1980, uncirculatedspecimens sold for about $300.[24] The edition
of R. S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins published in 2017 lists the coin for
between $130 and $685, depending on condition.[25] An exceptional specimen sold at auction in
2014 for $7,040.[26]

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ House hearings, p. 3.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "65 Bill Profile H.R. 8764 (1917-1919)". ProQuest
Congressional. Retrieved March 26, 2017. (Subscription required
(help)).
3. Jump up^ "65 H.R. 8764 Introduced in House" (pdf). United States
House of Representatives.
4. Jump up^ House hearings, pp. 3–4.
5. Jump up^ "Coinage of Fifty-cent pieces in Commemoration of
Admission of State of Illinois into the Union" (pdf). United States
House of Representatives. March 12, 1918. (Subscription required
(help)).
6. Jump up^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 4720 (April
6, 1918)
7. Jump up^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 6821–
6822 (May 21, 1918)
8. Jump up^ 1918 Congressional Record, Vol. 64, Page 7087 (May
25, 1918)
9. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Bowers, p. 132.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Swiatek & Breen, p. 109.
11. Jump up^ Slabaugh, p. 38.
12. Jump up^ Bowers, p. 131.
 13. ^ Jump up to:a b Flynn, p. 105.
14. Jump up^ Taxay, pp. 37–38.
15. Jump up^ Taxay, p. 38.
16. Jump up^ Taxay, p. 35.
17. Jump up^ Bowers, pp. 132–133.
18. Jump up^ Vermeule, p. 158.
19. Jump up^ Vermeule, p. 159.
20. Jump up^ LaMarre, Thomas S. (June 1989). "Morgan's Other
Coin". The Numismatist: 903–905.
21. Jump up^ Swiatek & Breen, p. 110.
22. Jump up^ Bowers, p. 134.
23. Jump up^ "The Illinois Centennial Half Dollar". The Numismatist:
401. October 1918.
24. Jump up^ Bowers, pp. 132–134.
25. Jump up^ Yeoman 2017, p. 296.
26. Jump up^ Yeoman 2015, p. 1124.

Sources[edit]
 Bowers, Q. David (1992). Commemorative Coins of the United
States: A Complete Encyclopedia. Wolfeboro, New Hampshire:
Bowers and Merena Galleries, Inc. ISBN 978-0-943161-35-8.
 Flynn, Kevin (2008). The Authoritative Reference on
Commemorative Coins 1892–1954. Roswell, Georgia: Kyle
Vick. OCLC 711779330.
 Slabaugh, Arlie R. (1975). United States Commemorative
Coinage (second ed.). Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman
Publishing. ISBN 978-0-307-09377-6.
 Swiatek, Anthony; Breen, Walter (1981). The Encyclopedia of
United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins, 1892 to
1954. New York, New York: Arco Publishing. ISBN 978-0-668-
04765-4.
 Taxay, Don (1967). An Illustrated History of U.S.
Commemorative Coinage. New York, New York: Arco
Publishing. ISBN 978-0-668-01536-3.
 United States House of Representatives Committee on Coinage,
Weights and Measures (1918). Commission to Standardize
Screw Threads. Washington, D.C.: United States Government
Printing Office.
 Vermeule, Cornelius (1971). Numismatic Art in America.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-62840-3.
 Yeoman, R.S. (2015). A Guide Book of United States Coins (1st
Deluxe ed.). Atlanta, Georgia: Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-
7948-4307-6.
 Yeoman, R.S. (2017). A Guide Book of United States
Coins (The Official Red Book) (71st ed.). Atlanta, Georgia:
Whitman Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7948-4506-3.