The United States Mint was under pressure as many world mints, such as the Royal Canadian Mint, were delivering new and innovative approaches to coinage. Countries began adding color to their coins in the early 1990s, and even prior to then by sampling adding paint by hand. The U.S. Mint’s reputation was one of quality, but it lacked innovation.
By 2020, Congress had limited the U.S. Mint to striking two commemorative coin series per calendar year. That was to limit the number of products that US coin collectors would feel pressured to buy. So, in that year, one event that Congress felt worthy of commemorating was the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Basketball Hall of Fame. In fact, the Mint decided that they would also show their innovative side and they reached out to a company in Massachusetts that had the technical expertise to bond color accurately and effectively to a metal coin. Thus, the U.S. Mint’s first foray into colorized coins has begun.
Authorized by Congress, by Public Law 115-343, the Basketball Hall of Fame coinage would comprise the usual three denominations – a Clad Half Dollar, a Silver Dollar, and a Five Dollar Gold coin – but these would be the very first American coins to display color on them, applied before the coins had left the Mint. Like the Baseball and Moon Landing coins, the obverse would be Concave in shape and the reverse would be Convex.
Like three prior commemorative coins sets, (Breast Cancer, Apollo 11, and Baseball) the Clad Half Dollar, Silver Dollar, and Five Dollar Gold coins all shared the exact same design, except for the size, metallic composition and the denominations stated on each coin. These Basketball Hall of Fame Clad Half Dollar commemorative coins had an obverse designed by Justin Kunz and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso.
The obverse depicts three people all reaching for a basketball – a man, a woman, and a man in wheelchair – which encompasses the 3 most popular types of basketball players. Behind these three figures is a basketball net superimposed as all three are trying to grab the basketball. On the upper left and center periphery is the word “LIBERTY,” and on the right periphery is the phrase “IN GOD WE TRUST.” The date is depicted horizontally below that phrase – “2020.”
Donna Weaver designed the reverse of this series, and it depicts a basketball just going through a hoop and part of the ball is already below the rim. This design was sculpted at the Mint by Phebe Hemphill. The outer periphery encompasses two phrases and the denomination as “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and, on this coin, “HALF DOLLAR.”
The Mint struck the Clad Half Dollar in four different versions alone!
There were:
- A Clad Uncirculated Half Dollar;
- A Clad Proof Half Dollar;
- A Clad Colorized Proof Half Dollar;
- And a Clad Enhanced Uncirculated Half Dollar (only available in the Basketball Hall of Fame kid’s set.
The Uncirculated Clad Half Dollar was struck at the Denver Mint and bears a “D” mintmark on its obverse.
The Proof version was struck at the San Francisco Mint and has an “S” mintmark. The San Francisco Mint also struck the coins that had the color applied to them. This colorized version of the Clad Proof Half Dollar was very popular with 32,614 coins sold.
The coin had orange color applied to the basketball, with black ribs dissecting the ball, a red rim on the hoop, and a white net. Many collectors preferred it to the un-colorized version as it had more eye appeal. The maximum authorized mintage by Congress was 750,000 of these coins.
The Silver Dollar coins followed the same route as the Clad Half Dollars. The U.S. Mint issued – a Silver Dollar in Uncirculated condition, a Silver Dollar in Proof and a Proof Silver Dollar that was colorized. The designs and designers were the same as for the Clad Half Dollar.
On the colorized version, the ribs of the basketball are black, and the rim of the net is red.
The Philadelphia Mint struck all three of the versions (above) of the Basketball Hall of Fame Silver Dollar. Accordingly, all three coins bore a “P” mintmark. The Congress of the United States had authorized a maximum mintage of up to 400,000 coins.
The Proceeds of the sales of all these coins were going to help continue the work of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA.
The final coin issued for the Basketball Hall of Fame was the Five Dollar Gold commemorative coin. Like the Clad Half Dollar and the Silver Dollar, this coin, too, was curved. The designs, designers, and sculptors were again the same ones who created the other two coins.
The US Mint struck both Uncirculated and Proof versions of these coins at their West Point minting facility and both bear a “W” mintmark. Congress had authorized a maximum mintage of 50,000 coins.
The surcharges varied the value of the coin with a maximum $35 surcharge for every Five Dollar Gold commemorative coin that was sold.
| Date | Mintmark | Denomination | Type | Mintage | Value |
| 2020 | D | Clad Half Dollar | Uncirculated | 13,639 | $60 |
| 2020 | S | Clad Half Dollar | Proof | 26,584 | $65 |
| 2020 | S | Clad Half Dollar | Colorized Proof | 32,614 | $120 |
| 2020 | P | Silver Dollar | Uncirculated | 21,328 | $85 |
| 2020 | P | Silver Dollar | Proof | 68,778 | $95 |
| 2020 | P | Silver Dollar | Colorized Proof | 25,735 | $125 |
| 2020 | W | Five Dollar Gold | Uncirculated | 3,263 | $700 |
| 2020 | W | Five Dollar Gold | Proof | 8,075 | $725 |
