This is considered to be one of the most beautiful coins ever struck by the United States Mint.  The winged eagle is quite handsome and the angelic figure of Miss Liberty on the reverse has such detail as to exhibit a metallic art quality.  On each side of Miss Liberty are busts of Sam Houston and Stephen Austin, the founders of the republic and the state of Texas.

 

The Texas Commemorative was designed by Popeo Coppin and was minted from 1934-1938.  They were issued in three coin sets every year except for 1934 in which only a single type coin was issued.

 

In 1892, our minted started a "Limited Edition" series of gold and silver coins which commemorated various events and individuals of importance to our nation.  The first coin struck was the Colombian Exposition half dollar of 1892.  Another interesting fact is that the only United States coin to ever honor a foreign monarch was the only commemorative quarter struck; the 1893 Isabella Quarter.  Commemorative coinage ended with the Washington-Carver issue in 1954, although the resurrection of the commemorative coin occurred in 1982 with the introduction of the George Washington commemorative.  The most recent commemorative coins were sold to benefit the Olympics.

 

We feel very strongly about the potential of commemorative.  They have a high collector-investor demand, low unit cost and a low mintage in considering its rarity to comparable issues.  In fact, the widely touted silver dollars do not come near the rarity of the commemorative halves.  Silver dollars, of common date, sell over the $500 mark, yet low unit cost commemorative ranging in price from $250 to $1,000 are 5 times as rare.

 

This historical series has but one silver dollar, the rare Lafayette Dollar of 1800 as well as one rare commemorative quarter dollar, the Isabella of 1893.

 

The Mint also struck 13 gold commemorative coins in denominations of $1, $2.50, and $50 (slugs).

 

Many of these coins were inspired by military battles, famous explorers, Presidents and Centennial Celebrations of different states.  Since I have been recommending these coins, we have received a positive reaction to this series.  Most people can readily identify with this unique part of our US coinage.