Long Island Tercentenary Half Dollar

The Long Island Tercentenary half dollar commemorates 300 years since Dutch settlers established the first permanent European community on Long Island, New York, in 1636. It is part of a wave of local and regional tercentenary commemoratives issued in the mid-1930s.

The design pairs a Dutch settler with a Native American on the obverse, reflecting the theme of early contact and settlement, while the reverse depicts a period sailing vessel, evoking the transatlantic journey that brought colonists to the region.

Local organizers in New York arranged tercentenary festivities in 1936 to mark 300 years since the founding of the first European settlement on Long Island, and Congress authorized a commemorative half dollar to help fund the celebration. The design was created by sculptor Howard Kenneth Weinman, son of noted coin designer Adolph A. Weinman.

The obverse's paired busts of a Dutch settler and a Native American reflect the era's common commemorative theme of depicting early cooperation or contact between colonists and indigenous peoples, a motif also seen on some other 1930s commemoratives.

By the mid-1930s, the classic commemorative half dollar program had drawn criticism for producing an increasing number of issues with small regional appeal, and the Long Island half dollar is often cited as part of that later wave before Congress eventually reformed the program.

The obverse depicts the conjoined busts of a Dutch settler wearing a cap and a Native American figure, with LONG ISLAND TERCENTENARY and the anniversary dates 1636-1936 in the legend. The reverse shows a Dutch sailing ship under full sail, representing the vessel that carried the earliest settlers, with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and HALF DOLLAR around the border.

The coin is struck in 90% silver with the standard half dollar diameter and reeded edge, issued only in 1936 from the Philadelphia Mint with no mint mark. As a single-year design, identification mainly involves checking the sharpness of the two obverse portraits and the ship's sail and hull details on the reverse.

The Long Island Tercentenary half dollar had a fairly large mintage compared to many earlier commemoratives, making it one of the more affordable and accessible issues in the classic series in circulated and typical uncirculated grades. Gem-quality coins with strong luster still bring a real premium, but the overall price ceiling is lower than for scarcer 1920s issues.

Because the design has open fields that show handling marks readily, careful attention to surface preservation is important when comparing examples, and problem-free coins are generally favored by collectors over cleaned or heavily marked pieces.