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William F. Sheehan defended the York County half in an article in the January 1975 issue of The
Numismatist. He suggested that the coin, with its broad rims, was meant to evoke the colonial
coinage of Massachusetts, of which Maine was long a part, such as the pine tree shilling. "It is said
that concerning taste there is no arguing. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then those who see
in the York County half dollar a harmonious union of motifs from English colonial coinage will see
a swan instead of an ugly duckling whenever a York County half crosses their path."
Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on U.S. coins and medals, criticized the design of
the York County half dollar: "few [coins] have deserved ashes and odium more than this". He deemed
the designs "uninteresting to anyone outside the most parochial native antiquarian circles. The old device of the sun's rays fills the
background above the buildings, and the placing of the conventional mottoes in the inner borders easily wins a grand prize for
unimagination ... The total performance is pedestrian to an extreme. Rather than a design for a coin, it is more like a medallion for a
bottle of vintage brandy."

Release, distributing and collecting

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 Walter P. Nichols

By letter dated July 21, 1936, the chairman of the Tercentenary Committee, George Wentworth,
informed O'Reilly that his committee planned to deposit $15,000 to pay for the authorized mintage
of 30,000 half dollars, plus a sum to pay for the Mint's expenses in striking the coins. Despite this,
the Philadelphia Mint in early August 1936 struck only 25,000 pieces, plus 15 more held by the Mint to be examined at the 1937 meeting of the annual Assay
Commission. Senator White, in a March 15, 1937 letter to Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross , stated that the committee had erred, thinking only 25,000 pieces were

authorized. He hoped that to support additional fundraising, the remaining 5,000 could be issued, dated 1937, but the Mint refused.

The first 100 coins minted, along with a map that depicted "Olde York County Maine", were
mounted in a glass case for presentation. Each was numbered corresponding to the order in which
the coin was minted. Distribution of coins to the public was supervised by Nichols on behalf of the York County
Commemorative Coin Commission. Ten thousand were put aside for Maine residents. The initial burst of enthusiasm saw the
allocation for Mainers oversubscribed, and they were sold coins earmarked for out-of-staters. The price was $1.50 for Mainers and
$1.65 (including postage) for those living elsewhere. When sales came to a halt in mid-1937, the Commission still had over 6,000
coins remaining. These were retained by the Commission and offered for sale in the 1950s at $15.50 for ten coins; they quickly
sold.

With the exception of the first 100 coins, the commemoratives were sold in folding paper holders
that depicted on their front cover black line drawings of Brown's Garrison and the York National
Bank of Saco. Also included were slots to hold up to five more coins, as well as a tissue paper
insert that read "We thank you for your interest in our commemorative half dollar, and extend to
you the hospitality of York County, Maine. York County Commemorative Coin Commission." By
1940 the York piece sold for about $1.25 in