🇺🇲 ½ Dollar (Washington-Carver, 1952) 🇺🇲

I figured that today we can have a closer look on the commemorative coin @silverd510 included as a freebie in his pimp package a couple days ago

Looks like two senile dudes I have no fucking idea who they are :)

Let's see what the coin reads, maybe we can get a hint 😄

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA * E PLURIBUS UNUM * IN GOD WE TRUST/GEORGE W CARVER LIBERTY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON HALF DOLLAR 1952

So, it turns out this coin commemorates the lives of George Washington Carver (1864-1943) and Booker T. Washington (1856-1915).

Also it's somewhat special as it took another three decades before another commemorative piece was minted in the U.S.

The coin was the last commemorative coin made by the Mint until the modern Commemorative Coin Program began in 1982. source

But who exactly were these two nerds?

Let's start with George Washington Carver. He was one of the most prominent black scientists and investors of the early 20th century who is probably best known for developing and promoting techniques like crop rotation to improve soils depleted by repeated plantings of cotton.

George Washington Carver, Public Domain

But he worked on so many other things too:

Dr. Carver established an agriculture extension in Alabama and founded an industrial research lab where he worked tirelessly on the development of hundreds of applications for new plants. Carver discovered more than 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds more uses for soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes. source

Wikipedia has a great entry on his life in case you want to learn more!

Now, let's move on to Booker T. Washington. Now, unlike Dr. Carver this is a dude I had never heard of before.

Turns out he was an author, educator, orator, philanthropist, and also founder of a tiny school he founded in Tuskegee, Alabama that later came to be the Tuskegee University.

Interestingly, he was a man that worked his way all up as he was one of the last black men to be born into slavery!

Booker T. Washington, Public Domain

Once again, Wikipedia is a great place to start if you want to learn more about this great man!

Long story short, this side of the coin is dedicated to the African-American community of the U.S.

Ok, let's flip the coin now and see what we have on the other side

Hehe, everything here screams Team America 🇺🇲

A map of the USA, with "USA" super imposed and the words

FREEDOM AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL* *AMERICANISM

Ok, let's check the edge now

Yawn! What a missed opportunity for such a great coin. Oh well, maybe next time 😄

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When it comes to silver we have 12.5 g of 0.900 purity which totals 11.25 g of pure silver!

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Overall, a beautiful coin and a nice change for my collection as they usually sport old white dudes. Now I have some old black dudes too 🤤😂

Thanks again @silverd510 ! It will have a special place in my treasury 🥰

Fun Silver Posts
Enjoyed the post? Here is some more fun silver/monetary content I have written in the past that you might enjoy:

• The country that uses plastic coins!
• The bizarre coins of Cook Islands
• Infographic: What Type of Silver Whale are you?
• My silver pocket piece
• My favorite piece from the stack
• The 10 Million Dollar Coin
• This is where gold really comes from!
• That's one big nugget!
• The Ten Thousand Dollar Bill ?!?!
• Biggest Gold Coin Ever

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