Lot 1850
1936-S Arkansas Half Dollar. PCGS graded MS-67. Only 9,662 struck. The reverse symbolism on the Arkansas Commemorative Half Dollars is extremely complicated, in some ways more so even than on the Texas coins, though not quite so crowded in execution. Behind the eagle is a diamond-shaped symbol derived from the state flag, referring to Arkansas' diamond field (then the only one in the United States) in Pike County. (On Burr's original sketch for the coin, the actual state flag was shown behind the eagle, allegedly referring to federal protection of the state -- but this was an obvious attempt to defuse possible objections to the Confederate symbolism (see below). Walter Breen offers this pithy explanation of one other feature: "On this diamond symbol are 13 stars which do not refer to the 13 original colonies though possibly the designer and the Centennial Commission intended that gullible "damyankees" should make such an erroneous assumption. Any local yokel could identify these as the upper half of the complete array of 25 stars in the state flag." Pop 14; 1 finer in 67+. (PCGS # 9239) Estimated Value $2,000 - 2,500
|
| |
| Realized $1,610 |
