Cincinnati Music Center – 1936

The 1936 Cincinnati Music Center Commemorative Half Dollar

The Cincinnati Music Center Commemorative Half Dollar is one whose purpose and intent were a bit cloudy at best. In theory, the coin was authorized because Cincinnati would be celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the contributions of Cincinnati to the world of music and also to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Cincinnati’s annual May Festival. At best, this is a long stretch and there are so many other cities commemorating more important events. This coin and celebration was the brainchild of Thomas Melish, a Cincinnati, businessman and entrepreneur, who wanted to control a commemorative coin issue and to profit himself by adjusting prices and controlling the flow of these coins.

Melish had prominent and important friends in this endeavor and that included politicians who authored the legislation and moved it through Congress. The legislation flew through Congress and was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt. A total of 15,000 coins were authorized but to Melish’s chagrin, each of the three mints struck 5,000 coins. Melish had sought 10,000 coins to be struck at Philadelphia, 2,000 at Denver and 3,000 at the San Francisco Mint. That would have made the Denver coin a rarity and the San Francisco coin close to a rarity as well.

Now that the coins were authorized and going to be struck, a design was needed that would meet the Mint’s requirements. Melish selected artist and sculptor Constance Ortmayer to design the coin. The Commission of Fine Arts rejected her designs as they could find no connection between Stephen Foster and the city of Cincinnati. Although a local Cincinnati musician and orchestra leader was suggested and would have been a totally appropriate representative, and even Melish agreed to the design change, the design was not changed. Foster remained on the obverse of a coin connected to a city with which he had no true connection. The Mint had already approved the designs and the dies were created and the coins went into production at each of the three mints.

Ortmayer’s designs were pleasing enough, however irrelevant to the City of Cincinnati. The obverse had a portrait of Stephen Foster facing right. Under the portrait were the words “STEPHEN FOSTER – AMERICA’S TROUBADOR” and around the top periphery was “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” and the denomination graced the bottom periphery “HALF DOLLAR.”

The reverse of the coin was a bit more artistic than the obverse. The central vignette had an allegorical representation of the Goddess of Music, kneeling, playing the lyre, and to her right is the date “1886” and to the left “1936.” Under the Goddess were the traditional mottoes “IN GOD WE TRUST”, “E PLURIBUS UNUM”, and “LIBERTY”. Around the reverse periphery was “CINCINNATI – A MUSIC CENTER OF AMERICA”, regardless of the truth of that particular statement.

The details and style of the coin were not fully struck up as Ortmayer was looking for a softer style, similar to John Sinnock’s design for the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence coin. Some contemporary commenters praised the coin’s designs while some felt that the lyre played by the Goddess was too small to be truly representative of an actual lyre.

But in July of 1936, 5,005 coins were struck at Philadelphia, the same number at Denver and 5,006 coins were struck at San Francisco and the mintage was completed. The first 200 coins struck from each mint were arranged into sets of three, holder in a black leatherette case with a notarized statement from Melish attesting to the coins being from the first 200 from each mint.

As inquiries about purchasing the coins poured in from collectors around the country, Melish sent out replies that the series was “over-subscribed.” The sets were initially offered at the then-high price of $7.75 per set. The price moved up quickly as fewer and fewer collectors were able to get their coins. The sets skyrocketed to the tremendously high price of up to $40 per set!

It is a desirable set today as the original mintage of only 5,000 sets was widely disbursed by the 1950s and prices are significantly higher than for competing coins of similar mintage.

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