½ Dollar (Columbian Exposition)

The Columbian Half Dollar: America's First Commemorative Coin

In 1892 the U.S. Mint did something it had never done before: it struck a coin to remember an event rather than to spend. The Columbian half dollar was the start of the entire American commemorative tradition — and its very first example sold for $10,000, a stunning sum for a fifty-cent piece.