The Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar

BY ROBERT R. VAN RYZIN

The Oregon Trail Memorial Half Dollar (1926-1939) will always have a special place in my heart. In the late 1970s, in response to the “You Name It” contest in Coins magazine, I entered an article about the Oregon Trail half dollar that I thought would win. The winning entry would be published in a future issue of Coins magazine. Most articles at that time focused on the abuses of the classic commemorative program and the gimmicks promoters used to try to sell their backlog of unwanted coins. Though true of the Oregon Trail half dollar, there was a story behind the coin that I felt was overlooked. It was the story of a real pioneer of the famed westward trail, Ezra Meeker, who appeared before Congress in 1926 at the…

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Numismatic News (Digital) - 1 Issue, January 28, 2025

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