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1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar
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28 posts in this topic

My Huguenot.png

In February thru April, 1924, 142,080 pieces were coined at the Philadelphia Mint with 80 pieces reserved for annual assay and 87,000 sold for a $1 each to the public. A quantity of 55,000 pieces went back to the Treasury Department, which placed the coins into circulation. Designed by George T. Morgan chief engraver of the mint, used designs suggested by Dr. John Baer Stoudt (a Numismatist-LG). Distributed by the National Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, Inc., Rev. John Baer Stoudt, director.  Associated with the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. A coin in my collection.

    Approved by Congress on February 26, 1923 and issued in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the settling of New Netherland, the Middle States, in 1624, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots, under the Dutch West India Company. 

Coin Description:

Obverse: Profiles of Admiral Coligny and William the Silent, with their names, in small letters, below. Inscription above, ‘United States of America.’ Below, ‘Huguenot Half Dollar.’ To right of busts, In God We Trust.’ 

Reverse: Ship Nieu Netherland, in which the first 30 families of settlers came to New York, with the dates at the sides, 1624 and 1924. Inscription above, Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary. Below, Founding of New Netherland. 

In February thru April, 1924, 142,080 pieces were coined at the Philadelphia Mint with 80 pieces reserved for annual assay and 87,000 sold for a $1 each to the public. A quantity of 55,000 pieces went back to the Treasury Department, which placed the coins into circulation.1 Designed by George T. Morgan chief engraver of the mint who used designs suggested by Dr. John Baer Stoudt. Distributed by The National Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, Inc., Rev. John Baer Stoudt, director. Associated with the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America.

1. Cf. p. 29 of Coinage of Commemorative 50-cent pieces (U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936) and a letter from Secretary of the Treasury Andrew W. Mellon to Hon. Randolph Perkins, chairman of the House Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, January 31, 1930, which states that 55,000 were returned to the mint and then placed into circulation.

Courtesy of the Commission of Fine Arts 

Minutes of Meeting held in Washington, D. C., November 15 and 16, 1923.

 

The following members were present:

Mr. Moore, Chairman,

Mr. Greenleaf,

Mr. Fraser,

Mr. Ayres,

Mr. Bacon,

Mr. Mowbray,

Mr. Medary, 

Also Mr. H. P. Caemmerer, Secretary and Executive Officer.

Morgan Model.png

Original model by George T. Morgan for reverse of Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary half dollar. Taxay p. 71.

Huguenot-Walloon Memorial Coin: Under date of October 26, 1923, the Director of the Mint, Treasury Department, submitted to the Commission models made at the United States Mint, of the Huguenot-Walloon Memorial 50-cent piece, which is to be minted by authority of Congress for the Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary celebration in 1924. The obverse of the model showed the portrait of Coligny and William the Silent, and the reverse a design of the ship New Netherland.

    The Commission inspected the models. Mr. Fraser felt that the composition of the design was good but that the execution was bad. The Commission decided that the work on the models does not conform to the standards set by the Commission and disapproved them. (Exhibit A).

 

EXHIBIT A

November 19, 1923.

Dear Sir:

    The models for the Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary coin, submitted by your Bureau under date of October 26, 1923, received the attention of the Commission of Fine Arts at their meeting on November 15th.

    While the ideas intended to be expressed are excellent, the execution is bad. The lettering is poor, the heads are not well modeled and the ship is ill designed. The workmanship is below the standard of excellence attained in previous coins. The models are therefore not approved.

    The models are herewith returned.

 Very respectfully, yours,

 Charles Moore,

Chairman

The Director of the Mint,

Treasury Department,

Washington, D. C.

Edited by leeg
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I finally snagged a “keeper” of this commem. Thanks for the background.

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For those who don't recall from school history, Walloons were the people who twisted balloons into little animals and flowers at Harvest Fairs. One year, the guy doing that at the Liège Fair got feisty and did some porno balloons. That's when they had to suddenly run away and found themselves making a fast exit on a slow ship to the New World.

The Huguenots were a strict religious group that declared everyone must be named "Hugh" or "Calvin" or "Hobbes" in honor of their patron, saint Bill Watterson. Their villages, called "Borgs" were always planned squares and their homes were cubes with the plumbing on the outside where it froze in winter weather. This forced them to emigrate to Miami Beach before there was air conditioning. Once settled, they built cubical homes from pink plastic flamingos and decorated with Picasso cubist paintings.

:)

Edited by RWB
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BTW -- another of Lee's excellent commemorative expositions!

[Whitman - get off your corporate tushes and publish Lee's book! OK?]

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On 7/19/2021 at 3:43 PM, RWB said:

For those who don't recall from school history, Walloons were the people who twisted balloons into little animals and flowers at Harvest Fairs. One year, the guy doing that at the Liège Fair got feisty and did some porno balloons. That's when they had to suddenly run away and found themselves making a fast exit on a slow ship to the New World.

The Huguenots were a strict religious group that declared everyone must be named "Hugh" or "Calvin" or "Hobbes" in honor of their patron, saint Bill Watterson. Their villages, called "Borgs" were always planned squares and their homes were cubes with the plumbing on the outside where it froze in winter weather. This forced them to emigrate to Miami Beach before there was air conditioning. Once settled, they built cubical homes from pink plastic flamingos and decorated with Picasso cubist paintings.

:)

Hrrmph, I thought Walloons were balloons that you rub on your shirt to build up static electricity and then stick them on the wall, hence walloons. Note: I have not tried this in Alabama yet. I suspect too much humidity. 

Edited by VKurtB
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Huguenot-Walloon-Terc-P29 A.png

Presentation of Huguenot half dollar to President Coolidge by Officers of the Commission. Washington, February 21, 1924. (From left to right: Rev. E. O. Watson, A. E. Hungerford, Hon. Jules J. Jusserand, the President, Rev. Charles S. McFarland, Baron de Cartier de Marchieune, Hon. A. D. C. de Graeff, Rev. John Baer Stoudt.) Image courtesy of The Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary, by Antonia H. Froendt, Secretary, the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, 1924. A book in my personal library.

To the Director of the National Huguenot-Walloon Commission John Baer Stoudt from the Acting director of the Mint Mary O’Reilly on November 24, 1923, regarding the models of the Huguenot Walloon Tercentenary Half Dollar. 

    Referring to your letter of October 25 submitting a design for the memorial coin authorized by Congress to commemorate the settling of New Netherlands Wallons [sic] under the Dutch West India Company in 1624, please be advised that in accordance with the Executive Order of the President dated July 28, 1921, the models were submitted to the Fine Arts Commission for advice as to their artistic merit. The Executive order of July 28, 1921, with reference to the submission of coins to that body, reads as follows:

    ‘It is hereby ordered that the essential matters relating to the design of medals, insignia and coins, produced by the executive departments shall be submitted to the Commission of Fine arts for advice as to the merits of such designs before the executive officer having charge of the same shall approve thereof.’

    The models have been returned to this Bureau with the following letter from the Fine Arts Commission: 

    ‘The models for the Huguenot–Wallon [sic] Tercentenary coin, submitted by your Bureau under date of October 26, 1923, received the attention of the Commission of Fine Arts at their meeting on November 15.

    While the ideas intended to be expressed are excellent, the execution is bad. The lettering is poor, the heads are not well modeled and the ship is ill designed. The workmanship is below the standard of excellence attained in previous coins. The models are therefore not approved. The models are herewith returned.’

    No further action will be taken by this Bureau until advised by you as what disposition you desire to have make [sic] of the models left by you at this Bureau. 

To the Chairman Executive Committee Chas. S. Macfarland from the Treasurer on October 2, 1924, regarding returning some of the Huguenot Walloon Tercentenary half Dollars. 

    With reference to your letter of the 27th ultimo, addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury and referred to this office under date of the 30th ultime, [sic] by the Director of the Mint for appropriate action, stating that you desire to return to the United States Mint for redemption 22,000 of the Huguenot Half Dollars struck this spring in commemoration of the Huguenot Tercentenary and that you would appreciate it if it were possible for the mint to hold them for a short while in stock in order that you might order them from time to time if desired, you are advised that you may ship at your risk and expense for transportation, preferably by express, prepaid, the Superintendent of the United States Mint, Philadelphia, the coins stated. The superintendent of the Mint has been instructed to hold the coins unmelted until November 15 next.

    Upon receipt in this office of information from the Superintendent of the Mint that the coins have been received and verified a check for the amount thereof will be sent you by this office in payment thereof.1 

    The running conflict between Mint engraver George Morgan and the Commission of Fine Arts is nowhere more evident than in the issue of the Huguenot-Walloon half dollar. After the letter above was received back at the Mint it was finally agreed that Morgan would revise his models under Fraser’s supervision, an arrangement that could hardly have been relished by either man. Nevertheless, the work progressed slowly, and on January 3, 1924 Fraser wrote to Moore: 

    My dear Mr. Moore: The Walloon Coin Commission came to me for criticism of the models, which I gladly gave them. You will recall that the design was not bad in itself. I criticized the modeling, construction, etc., of the heads. Then they brought them again for other criticisms which I gave them and at last they are considerably improved and I should say passable. They are to show me the reductions and I believe they will not be bad. 

1 From The Authoritative Reference on Commemorative Coins 1892-1954, Kevin Flynn, published by Kyle Vick, 2008, p. 283-284.

Edited by leeg
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    It seems that Congressman or Senator Vestal advised them to have the coin done at the Mint because he informed the Walloon Commission that the artists who had made designs did not understand reductions of coins and made the models too high so that the coins had to be struck several blows before they were perfect, therefore, the models should be made at the Mint. (Mr. Morgan has gotten in his good word against the artists again).

    Mr. Vestal should be informed that any model can be reduced by the pointing machine to any thickness of relief without changing the design and at the same time preserving the character of the modeling except for the flattening of the surfaces which will come in their proper relations.

    It seems to me perfectly disgusting that this inane and lying criticism should go on constantly. You will recall when the new dollar came out that instead of reducing the coin in relation to a low relief so that it would strike properly, Mr. Morgan hammered the surfaces of the electroplate with a flat board and then reduced the model again. That, in spite of the fact that he had been informed of the proper method of handling the models by reducing them properly.

    It seems stupid for me to explain this situation which you know so well but I thought possibly Mr. Vestal might be prevailed on to believe that medalists of international fame and experience might know as much of the method of reduction and what would happen to a coin model as Mr. Morgan of the Mint. Very sincerely yours.

    Moore seems to have taken Fraser’s letter to heart, for on the 7th he wrote to Congressman Vestal: 

    Dear Mr. Vestal: You are familiar with the attempts that have been made since the days of Roosevelt and Saint-Gaudens to bring the United States coins and the work of the Mint generally into the category of artistic achievement rather than commercial production. There have been times in the history of the Mint when the work produced there was of high excellence from the standpoint of the artist, but during the past twenty years there has been a hostile attitude toward the artists, so that while we have developed in this country medalists of high class, we have never reached the highest standards at the Mint. Even when artists have been employed to design the coins their work has been hampered always and frequently nullified within the Mint. I remember quite well the experience when you and I were both members of the Commission to examine the Mint a few years ago.

    You will recall that while much was said about counting and fineness and rapidity of production and all that, not one reference was made about the artistic quality of the coins; in fact that subject was and has been so far as I can find out ignored, and yet in the collection of coins at the Mint are specimens of the beautiful coinage of all ages. Most civilized nations regard the coinage as an opportunity to teach the people standards in beauty.

    By dint2 of many struggles our silver coinage, the nickel, and the penny, have been brought up to a fair standard as compared with other leading nations. The only questions now in relation to those coins are questions of quality of work in producing the coins themselves. But there is a later class of coins now coming into being to commemorate historical events.

    It goes without saying that these coins should be of the highest possible excellence. Indeed artistic quality is the only element which excuses the interruption they make in the regular coinage. I am enclosing a copy of a letter from Mr. James Fraser, the sculptor member of the Commission of Fine Arts in which letter you are quoted by the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission. I know from my conversations with you that you are in entire sympathy with the artistic side of coinage matters and I am sending you the letter with a view to an understanding in the future work on memorial coins. You realize that the frequent shifts in the Office of the Director of the Mint make it necessary for the incoming Director to spend a very large amount of his time in familiarizing himself with the duties of the Office. Our friend, Mr. Raymond Baker, really took an interest in these problems and I think got to enjoy the work very much after he became acquainted with it. I hope the present Director will also get some enjoyment out of his position. Sincerely yours.

    Having had their say, the Commission of Fine Arts blandly approved Morgan’s models, which were then returned to the Mint for reduction.

    Although a photograph of Morgan’s original obverse has not been preserved, the adopted model leaves ample room for criticism. The heads, whether taken individually or as a composition, are poor, and it seems incredible that they were made by the same hand as was the Lincoln head on the Illinois Centennial coin. 

2. He succeeded by dint of hard work.

Morgan’s initial reverse is to be found in the archives, and shows a floundering ship facing the opposite direction from that in the adopted design. This was the engraver’s last work, for in January 1925 he passed away and was succeeded in office by John R. Sinnock.”2

2 From An Illustrated History of Commemorative Coinage, Don Taxay, ARCO Press, New York City, 1967, p. 89, 90, 95-102.

 

smithsonian, Hugenot Trial Striking, Obv.png

smithsonian, Hugenot Trial Striking, Reverse.png

Object Details: United States Mint; Designer: Morgan, George T.; Location, Currently not on view; 1924; ID Number 1985.0551.0806; catalog number 1985.0551.0806; accession number 1985.0551; Object Name coin, coin, commemorative;

Physical Description bronze (overall metal), 0 (overall die axis), 0 (overall die axis measurement), struck (overall production method); Measurements overall: .3 cm x 4.13 cm; 1/8 in x 1 5/8 in; place made United States; place of issue United States. See more items in Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection National Museum of American History, Record ID nmah_1100353, Usage of Metadata (Object Detail Text), CC0 GUID (Link to Original Record).  Courtesy of The Smithsonian Institution.

 

Edited by leeg
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On 7/21/2021 at 7:07 AM, leeg said:

Congressman or Senator Vestal

Congressman. Albert Vestal Chairman of the House Coinage Committee.

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On 7/21/2021 at 7:07 AM, leeg said:

in January 1925 he passed away and was succeeded in office by John R. Sinnock.

Sinnock did not take office until August 1925.

The copper piece is likely a die trial - to make sure it is ready for use.

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Had trouble with formatting as seen above.  meh

. . . The Huguenot-Walloon Memorial Coin and the Tercentenary Stamps

    The first of these tangible expressions of tribute to the Walloon pioneers of 1624 was the striking of the Huguenot-Walloon Memorial Half Dollar by the U.S. Treasury Department; the second was the issuing of three special memorial stamps by the U. S. Post Office Department, the Commission in each case furnishing the designs.

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The New Netherland Stamp

0615.png

The Walloon Stamp

0616.png

The Ribaut Stamp

    In selecting subjects for these designs, the guiding thought was to include as much of the three-fold significance of the Tercentenary as possible—religious, historic, and racial. The memorial coin shows on its obverse side the profiles of two great Huguenot leaders—William the Silent of Holland, and his friend and ally, Admiral Coligny, of France—both of whom were deeply interested in projects for the colonization of the New World. The reverse bears the ship ‘Nieu Nederland,’ the sturdy Dutch vessel which carried the first boatload of Huguenot-Walloons from their refuge in the Netherlands on that memorable voyage across the as yet little known and much feared ocean. Of the stamps, it is the green one-cent stamp which again displays the gallant little ship and acknowledges the debt of gratitude which the Huguenots owed to the Netherlands for the protection they enjoyed there in the days of persecution. The red two-cent stamp is distinctively Walloon in spirit. It shows the landing of the Walloons at Albany (their first settlement), and introduces to the public, which has had little knowledge of them heretofore, a new racial element in our colonial period. The drawing used as the basis for the design was found in an old history of New York, now many years out of print. Huguenot in character is the five-cent stamp, which carries the message of the Tercentenary around the world. On it is a drawing of the Ribaut monument at Mayport, Florida, whose dedication in the Tercentenary year (May 2, 1924), was one of the outstanding features of the local celebrations. . .3

3 The Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary, by Antonia H. Froendt, Secretary, The Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, 1924, p. 12-13. A book in my Numismatic Library.

Wikimedia Commons William_I,_Prince_of_Orange.png

William the Silent. Wikimedia Commons.

Edited by leeg
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Not just anyone can carry off wearing collars like that. Imagine all the little pulls in your beard.

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On 7/19/2021 at 5:05 PM, VKurtB said:

Hrrmph, I thought Walloons were balloons that you rub on your shirt to build up static electricity and then stick them on the wall, hence walloons. Note: I have not tried this in Alabama yet. I suspect too much humidity. 

For those who do not know, one of two nationalities in modern day Belgium.  Flemish is the other.  

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This is the original o2005936870_walloon-zip.thumb.jpg.7682087face0ff4afcf2f17798868282.jpgf William the Silent. The painter did a little retouching. His half-brother was Gabriel the Gabby.

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    The National Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, Inc., of which the Rev. John Baer Stoudt is director, makes the following announcement regarding the latest of United States commemorative half dollars:

    ‘The Huguenot Memorial Half Dollar, which will be ready for distribution about February 1, promises to be one of the most interesting of the memorial coins. It commemorates the founding of New Netherland by the settling of a colony of Walloons (French and Belgian Huguenots) on the banks of the Hudson River in 1624 by the Danish West Indies Company. The obverse side will show the profiles of Admiral Coligny and William the Silent, and the reverse side the ship New Netherland sailing for America.

    ‘Only 100,000 will be struck and all unsold after a reasonable time will be returned to the mint. There has been close cooperation of the mint at Philadelphia and the Commission of Fine Arts at Washington in making both the design and the dies for the purpose of having this half dollar represent ‘the highest achievement of medallic art.’

    The Fifth Avenue National Bank of New York City is agent of these memorial coins. They will be sold at the customary price of $1.4

4 The Numismatist, The Huguenot Memorial Half Dollar Ready for Issue, February, 1924, p. 187.

 

New Coin Out

Huguenot-Walloon Half Dollar Reaches Allentown, Special to the Inquirer 

    ALLENTOWN, Pa., Feb. 16.—The new Huguenot-Walloon half dollar minted by the Federal government in commemoration of the Huguenot-Walloon tercentenary reached Allentown today, fifty of the coins being brought here by Rev. John Baer, Stout, secretary of the commission that has the programme for the celebration in charge. 

All of the Eastern and Midwestern States and some of the Southern States have arranged elaborate programmes for the observance of the 300th anniversary of the Huguenots’ arrival in this country.

    The new half dollar has a picture of the ship New Netherland, on which the immigrants sailed for America, on one side and a picture of William the Silent on the other side.5

5 The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News · Sun, Feb 17, 1924 · Page 3.

Wikimedia Commons Huguenot-Walloon-Terc-P6 Coligny.png

Admiral Coligny. Wikimedia Commons.

 

Edited by leeg
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Quiet Willie and the Admiral look a lot alike ....

(I'm kidding about the Walloon-Balloon, Quiet Willie and other stuff, but to be serious for a moment --- Leeg's research and content on classic commemoratives is so much more interesting, integrated and authoritative, that I have difficulty understanding why Whitman, or another deep pocket publisher hasn't jumped on the project.)

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On 7/23/2021 at 10:55 AM, RWB said:

Quiet Willie and the Admiral look a lot alike ....

(I'm kidding about the Walloon-Balloon, Quiet Willie and other stuff, but to be serious for a moment --- Leeg's research and content on classic commemoratives is so much more interesting, integrated and authoritative, that I have difficulty understanding why Whitman, or another deep pocket publisher hasn't jumped on the project.)

(thumbsu

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    The Huguenot-Walloon Commemorative half dollar was issued in February. It commemorates the three-hundredth anniversary of the permanent settlement of New Netherland, now the State of New York, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots on the banks of the Hudson River in 1624 by the Dutch West Indies Company. Walloons is the collective name of the inhabitants of the southeastern division of Belgium. Huguenots is a name formerly given to Protestants in France and Belgium.

    This coin adds another to the number of commemorative half dollars struck for various anniversaries during the last seven or eight years, and in point of merit and excellence it is the equal of any of them. From the collector’s point of view, the only objection that can be urged against it is that the reverse is similar in general appearance to the reverse of the Pilgrim half dollar. The workmanship is excellent, and there is a balance and symmetry to both the obverse and reverse that is lacking on some of the other commemorative issues. . .

    The coin is issued by the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, with headquarters in New York City, of which Rev. John Baer Stoudt, a member of the ANA, is director. A fitting celebration of the event has been organized by the National Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Commission, instituted by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America. The celebration will take place on April 27, 1924, and is to be observed by all the descendants of the Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots who came to this country under the Dutch West India Company.

    The act authorizing this issue of coins provided that 300,000 might be struck. Only a comparatively small number will be struck at first, and additional pieces will be struck as the demand warrants. The bill also provides that they shall be issued only upon the request of the Fifth National Bank, New York City, which will act as distributing agent.

    This coin should possess a special interest for members of the ANA, since the director of the commission is a member of our association, and President Wormser has been consulted and has acted in an advisory capacity with the commission. This is the first instance, we believe, where a numismatic organization or its officers have been consulted in the issue of a commemorative half dollar.

    A letter from President Wormser has been sent out by the commission, as follows: 

THE AMERICAN NUMISMATIC ASSOCIATION

Office of the President

95 Fifth Avenue, New York. 

January 29, 1924 

To Whom It May Concern:

    This is to certify that from time to time I have had the privilege to act in an advisory capacity with the Director of the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Tercentenary, in the issuing of the Huguenot Memorial half dollar, which the mint in Philadelphia is about to strike.

 

    I have passed on the designs and seen proof of the obverse side. I feel safe in saying that I believe this coin will surpass all previous U.S. commemorative coins in both attractiveness and historical significance and feel certain, too, that it will appeal not only to those of Huguenot, Walloon, or Dutch extraction, but to all citizens of every section of our country who are interested in the romantic history of its founding as a refuge for the oppressed.

    I have confidence in the management of the Tercentenary, which I am assured is free from the keen commercialism too often apparent in the distribution of commemorative coins.

    The first run, I am informed, will consist of twenty thousand coins, and thereafter only four thousand are to be coined at a time. It is proposed to strike not more than one hundred thousand at most. All coins remaining on hand after a certain date are to be returned to the mint for remelting.

    The good faith of the Commission is evident from the fact that they have come to the American Numismatic Association for suggestions and advice, particularly as to selling methods that should protect the purchasers who buy these coins at a premium over face.

 

(Signed) Moritz Wormser,

President, American Numismatic Association. . .6

6 The Numismatist, Huguenot-Walloon Commemorative Half Dollar, March, 1924, p. 235-237.

 

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    . . .The coin was issued by the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, with headquarters in New York City, whose director was an A. N. A. member, and, with Mr. Moritz Wormser, then President of the A. N. A., acting in an advisory capacity, made it the first instance we believe, where the coin fraternity has been consulted in the issue of a commemorative half dollar.

    The A. N. A. members looking only at the coin features of the new issue forgot their history or else thought no one would recall it. No so the public press, which severely criticized the use of these profiles on the coin.

    Admiral Coligny was killed in the massacre of St. Bartholomew on August 24, 1572, and William the Silent, whose fourth wife was the daughter of Coligny, was also slain June 10, 1584, forty years before the settlement now commemorated. Neither of these men had anything to do with the founding of New Netherlands, then why should they be perpetuated on an American souvenir coin? Dr. Zwerlein, of Rochester, answered that question in an address delivered in the Church of the Sacred Heart on March 17, 1924. He said:

    ‘Minting this Huguenot coin was a shameful abuse of the Untied States currency. New Netherland was a Dutch colony, even though the first colonists sent out on the ship, Nieuw Nederlandt, thirty families, were mostly Walloons, comprising also a few Huguenots. The Dutch, therefore, are the ones who should have been honored by the coin, but the Dutchman, William the Silent, is made to play second fiddle to the Frenchman, the Huguenot Coligny.

    ‘Traditional Calvinist lore represents Admiral Coligny and William the Silent as martyrs in the fight for religious liberty, but scientific history brands this view of those men as untrue and in flagrant contradiction with historical evidence.

    ‘Nevertheless, the false tradition seems to have inspired the Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, instituted by the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, when the United States Government was duped into minting this Huguenot half dollar, so as to make a Protestant demonstration out of the tercentenary of the colonization of the State of New York.7

7 The Numismatist, John F. Jones, Jamestown, N. Y., May 1937, p. 394-395.

William of Orange and Coligny

    Editor Everybody’s Column: Can you explain what Coligny and ‘William the Silent’ had to do with the founding of New Netherland! They are represented on the new coin of the Huguenot half-dollar.

R. M. L.

    Neither had anything to do directly with the founding of New Netherland by the Dutch in 1623. But William of Orange, called the Silent, was the chief figure in the deliverance of the Netherlands from Spain and the founding of the Dutch Republic in the preceding century, and thus he holds a place in the affection of his countrymen something of the same place that Washington holds in ours. Admiral Coligny, who perished in the massacre of the Huguenots on St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1572, was one of the leaders of the French Protestants. Since many Huguenots, even before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, emigrated to the American colonies, and particularly to New York and its vicinity, as early as the days of Dutch rule, the commemoration of both men on the half-dollar is natural and appropriate.8

 8 The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) · Sat, Apr 5, 1924 · Page 12.

    Bartholomew's Day, massacre of French Huguenots (Protestants) in Paris on August 24/25, 1572, plotted by Catherine de' Medici and carried out by Roman Catholic nobles and other citizens. It was one event in the series of civil wars between Roman Catholics and Huguenots that beset France in the late 16th century.9

9 Britannica.

 

St. B Massacre.png

François Dubois: The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day. The Massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, oil on wood by François Dubois, 1572–84; in the Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland. Courtesy of the Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne; photograph, Andre Held. Britannica.

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The long lost cousin of William of Orange was Thomas of Tangerine. He married Margaret Meringue from the Duchy of Limon in the Citron Region of France.

(Curious how so many religious groups enjoy killing in the name of the Almighty.)

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On 7/23/2021 at 10:55 AM, RWB said:

.... I have difficulty understanding why Whitman, or another deep pocket publisher hasn't jumped on the project.)

Respectfully, [waning] interest and demand.  

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I'll assume you will make an announcement when you work will be published ? I've been following your excerpts with enthusiasm (and I don't even own a commemorative coin yet) :$

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On 7/25/2021 at 12:36 PM, numisport said:

I'll assume you will make an announcement when you work will be published ? I've been following your excerpts with enthusiasm (and I don't even own a commemorative coin yet) :$

Sure enough.  :grin:

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                                                                                     Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

 

Huguenot-Walloon-Terc-P62 B.jpg

 

Edited by leeg
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Above image courtesy of The Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary, by Antonia H. Froendt, Secretary, The Huguenot-Walloon New Netherland Commission, 1924, p. 40.

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A 3-1/2 x 6” mailing envelope—also with embossing from a half dollar-size coin. The envelope is postmarked Aug 13 / 11 PM 1924 Madison Sq. Sta. New York. Attached is a cancelled horizontal strip of two 1924 one-cent Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary stamps with *selvage at right having having plate number 15756. 

*Selvage (noun), an edge produced on woven fabric during manufacture that prevents it from unraveling.

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George T. Morgan

    George T. Morgan Bio.: Born in Birmingham, England, Morgan studied in England, and worked for many years as a die engraver at Messrs. J.S. & A.B. Wyon. Morgan came to the United States from England in 1876 and was hired as an assistant engraver at the Mint in October of that year under William Barber. He figured very prominently in the production of pattern coins from 1877 onward. Morgan designed several varieties of 1877 half dollars, the 1879 ‘Schoolgirl’ dollar, and the 1882 ‘Shield Earring’ coins. Eventually, Morgan took the role of seventh Chief Engraver following the death of Charles E. Barber in February 1917. Morgan is most famous for designing the Morgan dollar, one of many namesakes, as well as the never-released $100 Gold Union coin.8

8 Wikipedia.

 

Congressional Authorization Act 

[PUBLIC—NO. 440—67TH CONGRESS.] 

[S. 4468] 

An Act To authorize the coinage of 50-cent pieces in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the settling of New Netherland, the Middle States, in 1624, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots, under the Dutch West India Company.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in commemoration of the three hundredth anniversary of the settling of New Netherland, the Middle States, in 1624, by Walloons, French and Belgian Huguenots, under the Dutch West India Company, there shall be coined at the mints of the United States silver 50-cent pieces to the number of three hundred thousand, such 50-cent pieces to be of the standard troy weight, composition, diameter, device, and design as shall be fixed by the Director of the Mint, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, which said 50-cent pieces shall be legal tender in any payment to the amount of their face value.

SEC. 2. That all laws now in force relating to the subsidiary silver coins of the United States and the coining or the striking of the same, regulating and guarding the process of coinage, providing for the purchase of material and for the transportation, distribution, and redemption of the coins, for the prevention of debasement or counterfeiting, for security of the coin, or for any other purposes, whether said laws are penal or otherwise, shall, so far as applicable, apply to the coinage herein authorized: Provided, That the United States shall not be subject to the expense of making the necessary dies and other preparations for this coinage.

SEC. 3. That the coins herein authorized shall be issued only upon the request of the Fifth National Bank of New York, and upon payment of the par value of such coins by such bank to the United States Treasury.

I hope some of you have enjoyed this chapter.  The End.

Edited by leeg
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I have enjoyed this chapter, but more to the point, any plans to observe the 500th anniversary (1624-2124) of the Huguenoe-Walloons or, for that matter, the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776-2126) or we still too busy tearing down monuments and building walls?

Very informative, Lee.  Keep up the good work!

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Thank you Q. A.

When I write about the coin I also write about the event surrounding it, if there was one.

Next comes the chapter on the Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary Celebration.

Edited by leeg
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