feature article

Joint Celebrations – Commemorative

Coins and Stamps
By Mike Sherman
That significant events in our nation’s history would be The first commemorative issue for both a stamp and
celebrated on both postage stamps and commemorative coin was the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Amer-
coinage should not be surprising. What might raise an ica by Christopher Columbus. This event was marked by
eyebrow though, is the number of times this has occurred. a major exposition and World’s Fair in Chicago. Both a
commemorative quarter
(featuring Queen Isabella)
and half dollar (with the
portrait of Columbus) were
issued during 1892-93.
The Post Office issued a
major 16-stamp series,
with values ranging from
1¢ to the almost unheard
of denomination of $5.00.
In today’s dollars, that
stamp would have a face
value of roughly $120!
The Louisiana Purchase
Exposition in St. Louis in
1904 provided another op-
portunity for both the Mint
and the Bureau of Engrav-
ing and Printing to release
commemorative issues.
The gold dollar pieces
featured Thomas Jeffer-
son (President in 1804)
and the recently martyred
President William McKin-
ley, while the five-stamp
series included portraits of
Robert R. Livingston and
James Monroe in addition
to Jefferson and McKinley.
The Panama-Pacific
Exposition of 1915, held
in San Francisco, marked
both the completion of
the Panama Canal and
the 400th anniversary of
Balboa’s “discovery” of
the Pacific Ocean. The
U.S. Mint pulled out all
the stops and struck a

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32 Long Beach Official Show Program
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Joint Celebrations – Commemorative Coins and Stamps
Continued from page 32
five-coin set that featured a silver half dollar, a gold
dollar, a gold quarter eagle, and two $50 gold pieces.
The Post Office marked the event with a four-stamp set,
featuring views of the Canal, the Golden Gate Bridge, the
Discovery of San Francisco Bay and Balboa.
During the 1920s, the tercentenary of the Pilgrim and
the Huguenot landings and the sesquicentennials of both
the battle of Lexington-Concord and the signing of the
Declaration of Independence provided highly significant
events that were marked by joint coin and stamp issues.
Note the extremely similar themes of both the coin and
stamp designs.
The mid-1930s saw a number of additional releases,
most of which were centered around anniversaries
marked by individual states.
34 Long Beach Official Show Program
While the examples shown are the key “parallel” issues,
there are many other events that have been captured on
both stamps and coins, though not always at the same
time. For example, in 1920, Maine celebrated its centen-
nial with a commemorative coin, while the corresponding
stamp issue waited for the sesquicentennial in 1970.
Next time, we’ll deal with some of these issues that are
related, though not necessarily released simultaneously.
Following that, we will deal with the modern (post
1982) commemoratives. Over three dozen events are
marked on both our modern coin and stamp issues.
A collection of these “joint celebrations” would be very
interesting and attractive, not to mention a great link
between the two most popular hobbies in our country.