1936 DELAWARE TERCENTENARY COMMEM PCGS MS65 AWESOME

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For sale - A beautiful gem 1936 Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Commemorative half dollar graded MS65 by PCGS. This coin is very lustrous and retains 100% of its original surfaces. Below is additional information about this classic commemorative half dollar. Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Half Dollar Question: Which United States coin is dated 1936, was struck in 1937 and commemorates an anniversary in 1938? Answer: The Gettysburg half dollar—well, yes and no. While that’s true of the Gettysburg half too, the coin in question is the Delaware Swedish Tercentenary half dollar. It’s one of the less remembered of our commemoratives, but it’s still an attractive and historically significant coin. Although the present state of Delaware was explored by Henry Hudson in 1609 and by English adventurers the following year, even being briefly settled by Dutch colonists in 1631, the first European community to take hold and thrive in this land was created by Swedish and Finnish immigrants in 1638. Setting sail from Sweden the previous year, these brave souls arrived in the New World under the sponsorship of The New Sweden Company, an enterprise created to exploit the fur trade then developing. Their two ships, the Kalmar Nyckel and the Fogel Grip, under the command of famed adventurer Peter Minuit, arrived in what is now Delaware in March of 1 638. The immigrants made their first settlement at a place called “The Rocks,” naming it Fort Christina after the young daughter of Sweden’s King Gustavus Adolphus. This site is now a park within the city of Wilmington, Delaware. The lands along the Delaware River were already claimed by the Dutch colony of New Netherlands to the north and by the British colonies of Maryland and Virginia to the south and west. It wasn’t long before the Dutch attempted to enforce their claim, and both sides alternately prevailed over a period of several years. Eventually, the intervention of the Dutch West India Company with its mercenary army forced the Swedes to capitulate, and the name New Sweden passed into history in 1655. The British capture of New Netherlands in 1664 (thereafter called New York) made the remaining Swedes and Finns subjects of the English Crown. A few years later, Britain assigned the Delaware lands to William Penn’s colony of Pennsylvania. As Delaware was still claimed by Maryland, however, border disputes continued until 1750. By the time that independence was declared by the American Colonies in 1776, Delaware had established its own identity, becoming the first state to ratify the Federal Constitution in 1787. As the 300th anniversary of Swedish-American settlement approached, a Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Commission was formed under the direction of C. L. Ward, chairman. Its purpose was to arrange for celebrations planned for 1938 commemorating the arrival of Swedes in America. Although the first landing had been in Delaware, the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey would also participate in celebrating their Swedish heritage. Legislation was passed May 15, 1936 which authorized the coining of not less than 25,000 Delaware Tercentenary half dollars, to be coined with a single design and at a single mint. These clauses were included in response to the abuses perpetrated by other commemorative coin sponsors, many of whom had additional coins minted with minor changes so that collectors would have to purchase additional specimens. An open design competition with a $500 prize drew 40 entries and was judged by the Mint’s Chief Engraver John R. Sinnock and by noted sculptor Dr. Robert Tait McKenzie. It resulted in the selection of Carl L. Schmitz as the winner. Appropriate to a celebration of the immigrant, Schmitz was a German-American born in France! The judging was performed Schmitz’s models were delivered to the Federal Commission of Fine Arts in November of 1936 and were forwarded to the Commission’s sculptor member, Lee Lawrie, for his review and comment. Lawrie noted that “... read more

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