Kennedy half dollar
Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on the artistry of American coins, had high praise for the coin and its sculptor: "it is more difficult to find a more aesthetically satisfying, technically superior commemorative half-dollar than the Elgin, Illinois, Centennial of 1936." Vermeule observed that the figures on the reverse appear almost three-dimensional. He noted that the technique of spacing out the letters of the word "Pioneer" above the head presages that used by later Chief Engraver Gilroy Roberts on the obverse of the Kennedy half dollar. According to Vermeule, Rovelstad "has produced one of the major documents of sculptural plasticity and vibrant relief in the series of commemorative coins. His obverse is worthy of a Roman medallion, and his reverse rivals the great Neoclassic dies of England or Bavaria in the nineteenth century."