Pilgrim Commemorative Half Dollar (1920) To celebrate the 300th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts, Congress authorized the Pilgrim Tercentenary Half Dollar. The commemorative coins were issued with two different dates, setting a precedent that would be followed by future issues. A quantity of 200,000 coins were initially produced at the Philadelphia Mint in 1920. These were sold by the Pilgrim Tercentenary Commission for $1 each. Although the existing production was not completely sold out, the Commission requested production of the remaining 100,000 coins of the 300,000 maximum authorized mintage. These would carry the date “1921” on the obverse, differentiating them from the original issue. Sales of the additional issue were poor and eventually 48,000 of the original issue and 80,000 of the second issue were returned to the Mint for melting.
Auctions
