Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford appears on the 1920 Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar. |
This coin celebrates the 300th anniversary of the Mayflower Pilgrims' journey to religious freedom in the New World. |
The front side of the coin portrays William Bradford, the leader
of the Pilgrims, who would become the governor of the Plymouth Colony and serve
in that position, on-and-off, for close to 30 years. In designing the coin,
Dallin invented the image of Bradford, as no known drawing of his
actual likeness exists. He gave Bradford the sort of features and
clothing often seen in paintings by Dutch Masters of the 1600s. Actually, most of the
Pilgrims typically dressed a bit less formally rather than in the staid styles
and dark colors in which they have most often been depicted over the years.
Historians will argue as to whether the book Bradford holds is a
Bible or his own book, Of Plymouth
Plantation, in which he details a good bit of the history of Plymouth and
its people, as well as conditions and events that led 102 souls to leave their
homes in England and Holland for an uncertain life in the New World. This book
is where we find a great deal of our knowledge today of the journey, the lives and the struggles
of the Pilgrims.
In 1920 there were 152,112 of these commemorative coins minted. Today they typically sell for about $60 to $90, depending on their condition. Half-dollar coins have been churned out nearly every year since the first U.S. Mint was built in 1792, in Philadelphia, which was the nation's capitol at the time. Should we begin lobbying Congress for a 2020 quatercentenary coin acknowledging Provincetown as the Pilgrims' first landing place?
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