PCGS CoinFacts 1935 50C Spanish Trail

Since the launch of PCGS CoinFacts,™ we have been hard at work updating and expanding the site's information. Here's another recent example:

David Hall: The 1935 Old Spanish Trail half dollar was designed by a collector named L.W. Hoffecker (1939-1941 President of the American Numismatic Association) to be sold at the relatively high price of $2 per coin. It was somewhat of a contrived issue (as were quite a few other silver commemoratives in the 1935-1939 era) and Hoffecker was involved in the distribution and the profits made from these coins. Nonetheless, the Spanish Trail was quite popular with collectors at the time of issue and indeed for all of the years following up until today. It was a good design and the quality was generally high.

The Spanish Trail is certainly not rare in an absolute sense; however, the 10,000-coin mintage is very low for a commemorative type issue. Commemoratives of the classic 1892 to 1954 era have always been collected two ways; there is the 50-piece one-of-each-type set and the 144 one-of-each-date-mintmark-and-variety set. For the 50-piece type set, the Spanish Trail has one of the lowest mintages and has been highly sought after as a key piece to the series. Especially in the days prior to the PCGS Population Reports (pre-1986). PCGS grading shed light on which coins were saved and which were actually more difficult to acquire in top condition than their original mintages might indicate.

The typical Spanish Trail grades, MS64 to MS66 and MS67s, are also fairly easy to find. The surfaces are relatively mark-free – as the high original price probably caused buyers to take better care of their coins. Luster is of the satin type. This is an issue that generally comes very nice.

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