Alabama Centennial – 1921

1921 Alabama Centennial- The First Coin Designed by a Woman

The State of Alabama was admitted to the Union in 1819. The 100^th Anniversary approached in 1919 and then passed and there was no official activity to celebrate it. But two states celebrated the exact same event – the Centennial of their Admission to the Union – Maine in 1920 and Missouri in 1921 before Alabama did.  The legislation to rectify the situation and recognize Alabama was introduced by Alabama Congressman Rainey and was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson in 1920.

The initial design was to have displayed President Woodrow Wilson on the coin but the presidential election of 1920 changed all that when Republican Warren G Harding won the election. So the sponsors of the coin in Alabama changed their efforts and had the designer, Laura Gardin Fraser, depict William Bibb, the first Governor of Alabama on the coin in a conjoined bust with T. E. Kilby, then Governor of Alabama in 1921.

This coin has the distinction of having three FIRSTS associated with an American coin. It was:

• The first coin to be distributed two years after it should have been struck.
• The first coin to depict a living person – then Alabama Governor T. E. Kilby.
• The first coin in the world to have ever been designed by a woman – Laura Gardin Fraser, wife of James Earle Fraser.

The designs suggested by the Commission of Fine Arts and what Laura Gardin Fraser’s models depicted were conjoined busts of the first Governor of Alabama William Wyatt Bibb and the then-current Governor T. E. Kilby. Surmounting the busts were the legends “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and “IN GOD WE TRUST.” Below the busts were the names “BIBB” and “KILBY” with “1921” separating the names. At the bottom of the obverse was the denomination, “HALF DOLLAR.” There are also 12 small five-pointed stars to the left of the busts and 10 five-pointed stars behind them.

The reverse depicts the Alabama seal of arms, an eagle ready for flight standing on a Union shield.   Arrows are in the eagle’s talons but no olive branch. But there is a banner held in her beak on which is inscribed “HERE WE REST”. “STATE OF ALABAMA” and “1819 CENTENNIAL 1919” adorn the periphery.

With the 1921 Missouri Centennial issuers having a “Plain” and a “2★4” version of their coin, the Alabama committee had a “2X2” placed on the obverse of their coin, to also create two versions. 6,006 with the “2X2” on the obverse were struck and 16,014 were minted without that countermark. The number “22” represents that Alabama was the 22nd state admitted to the Union. The “X” is St. Andrew’s Cross that appears on the Alabama state flag.

President Harding visited Birmingham, Alabama on October 26, 1921, and these coins were for sale to visitors at that time by the Alabama Centennial Commission. Both varieties were available for $1.00 per coin.

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