page_title: Albany Charter half dollar
section_title: Legislation
hierarchical_section_title: Albany Charter half dollar / Legislation
caption_attribution_description: English: Painting of Pieter Schuyler
context_page_description: The Albany Charter half dollar, also known as the Albany-Dongan half dollar or Albany half dollar, is a commemorative half dollar struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1936. It was designed by sculptor Gertrude K. Lathrop, who lived in Albany, New York's state capital.
  In 1936, Congress approved many commemorative coins for issuance, including some of mostly local significance. These included the Albany piece, wanted by city officials to mark the 250th anniversary of the 1686 grant of its municipal charter by Thomas Dongan, governor of colonial New York. The authorizing bill passed through Congress without opposition, though amendments added protections for coin collectors against abuses seen in earlier commemorative issues. Lathrop's designs have generally been praised: she placed a beaver on one side of the coin, modeled from life and depicted the persons involved in the grant of the charter on the other. After approval of the designs by the Commission of Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Mint coined 25,013 Albany half dollars in October 1936, including 13 pieces for testing by the Assay Commission.
context_section_description: Legislation for a commemorative half dollar in honor of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Albany was introduced into the House of Representatives on April 23, 1935 by Parker Corning of New York. It was referred to the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures. On February 17, 1936 it was reported back to the House, with a recommendation that it pass after being amended. The amendment increased the authorized mintage from 10,000 half dollars to 25,000, and required that a committee of at least three people appointed by Albany's mayor be empowered to order the coins from the Mint (the original bill permitted an individual to have that power). Congressman Corning brought the bill to the House floor on March 25, and it passed without debate or opposition. 
  In the Senate, the bill was referred to the Committee on Banking and Currency on March 26, 1936. Only two weeks earlier, on March 11, a subcommittee of the Banking Committee led by Colorado's Alva B. Adams had examined abuses of commemorative coin issuers.  The subcommittee had heard of the commemorative coin abuses of the time, when issuers often increased the number of coins needed for a complete set by having them issued at different mints with different mint marks; existing legislation placed no prohibition on this. Lyman W. Hoffecker, a Texas coin dealer and official of the American Numismatic Association, testified that some coins like the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar, first struck in 1926, had been issued over the course of years with different dates and mint marks. Other issues had been entirely bought up by single dealers, and some low-mintage varieties of commemorative coins were selling at high prices. The many varieties and inflated prices for some issues that resulted from these practices angered coin collectors trying to keep their collections current.
  Adams reported the Albany bill back to the Senate on May 21, 1936, with a proposed amendment. The amendment entirely rewrote the bill, imposing restrictions such as a one-year limit for issuance of the coins from the Mint after enactment of the bill, and that they be struck at only one of the mints. The bill was considered by the Senate on June 1, and the bill was amended and passed without discussion or dissent. As the two houses had not passed identical versions, the bill returned to the House of Representatives, where, on June 3, James M. Mead of New York moved that the House accept the Senate amendment; it did so without recorded discussion or dissent. The bill became law on June 16, 1936 with the signature of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, authorizing the minting of 25,000 half dollars. The law authorized the Albany committee to sell the half dollars at face value or at a premium, and required that the proceeds go to defray the cost of the anniversary celebrations.
caption: Portrait of Pieter Schuyler painted by Nehemiah Partridge between 1710 and 1718
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