1922 Grant Memorial Half Dollar

 

 1922 Grant Memorial Obverse      1922 Grant Memorial Reverse

 

Click the images above for enhanced view.

Purpose:

 

To commemorate the centenary of the birth of Ulysses S. Grant and to use proceeds from the sale of the coin to renovate the Grant birthplace and acquire land surrounding the home. 

 

 

Maximum Number Authorized: 250,000 pieces.

 

Sale Price: 

 

Star variety initially $1.00 and later $1.50

Plain variety initially $1.00 and later $0.75

 

Designs:

 

    Obverse – Laura Gardin Fraser

A bust of Ulysses S. Grant facing right in a military uniform. There is a recessed star variety and a plain variety with the star having no significance and appearing above the letter “N” in Grant. The letter “G” for the designer’s maiden name is found between the dates.

 

Online Resources: 

 

https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/ulysses-s-grant/ 

 

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/ulysses-s-grant 

 

   Reverse – Laura Gardin Fraser

A frame house representing Grant’s birthplace in Point Pleasant, Ohio. There is a fence in front of the home and maple trees surrounding the building.

 

Online Resource: http://www.usgrantbirthplace.org/ 

 

 

Popularity:

 

Of the 250,000 half dollars authorized, 5,000 of the star variety and 95,000 of the plain variety were minted for sale to the public. 750 Star coins were returned to the Mint to be melted along with 27,650 No Stars. 

 

 

Trivia:

 

  • Grant’s father, Jesse Grant, worked in a tannery as a young man. The tannery was owned by Owen Brown, father of abolitionist John Brown.

  • In 1848, Grant married Julia Dent at her home in St.Louis. Attending the wedding was a cousin of Julia’s, James Longstreet, who would become a prominent Confederate general.

  • Ulysses S. Grant suffered from congenital amusia (tone-deafness). He did not have the ability to process music. When asked what type of music he enjoyed, Grant was quoted as saying, “I know only two tunes, one of them is ‘Yankee Doodle’ and the other isn’t.”

  • Grant’s Tomb is the second largest mausoleum in the Western Hemisphere. The largest is the President James A. Garfield Memorial.

For more information:

 

Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States by Anthony J. Swiatek&nb
sp;

KWS Publishers (2012)

 

Commemorative Coins of the United States Identification and Price Guide by Anthony J. Swiatek

Amos Press Publishers (2001)

 

Ulysses S. Grant: Memoirs and Selected Letters: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant / Selected Letters 1839-1865 by U.S. Grant

Library of America Publishers (1990)

 

References:

 

Encyclopedia of the Commemorative Coins of the United States by Anthony J. Swiatek

KWS Publishers (2012)

 

The Encyclopedia of United States Silver & Gold Commemorative Coins 1892 to 1954 by Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen

 

Arco Publishing, Inc. (1981)

 

 

 
Return to top