United States | |
| Value | 50 cents (0.50 U.S. dollars) |
|---|---|
| Mass | 12.5 g |
| Diameter | 30.61 mm (1.20 in) |
| Thickness | 2.15 mm (0.08 in) |
| Edge | Reeded |
| Composition | |
| Silver | 0.36169 troy oz |
| Years of minting | 1934–1938 |
| Mint marks | D, S. To the right of Victory's foot on the reverse. Philadelphia Mint coins struck without mint marks. |
| Obverse | |
 | |
| Design | An eagle perched atop an oak branch in front of the Lone Star of Texas. |
| Designer | Pompeo Coppini |
| Reverse | |
 | |
| Design | The goddess Victory spreading her wings over the Alamo. Portraits of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin embedded within clouds to the sides. The Six Flags of Texas fly above her head, alongside the banner "Liberty". |
| Designer | Pompeo Coppini |
The Texas Centennial half dollar was a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint for collectors from 1934 to 1938. It features an eagle and the Lone Star of Texas on the obverse, while the reverse is a complex scene incorporating the winged goddess Victory, the Alamo Mission, portraits of Texan founding fathers Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin, alongside the six flags over Texas. Proposed by the American Legion's Texas Centennial Committee as a fundraising measure for the Texas Centennial Exposition and a celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the Texas Revolution, the coin's issue was approved by Congress in 1933, ending a multi-year pause on new commemorative issues under the Hoover administration. It was designed by sculptor Pompeo Coppini, previously the designer of several Texan public monuments. Rough models of the coin were approved by the committee in May 1934, but rejected by the United States Commission of Fine Arts, who viewed the design as crowded and overly-complicated.
Despite the Fine Arts Commission's recommendations for a redesign, the coin's congressional sponsor, Texas representative William D. McFarlane, opposed any broad-scale revision of Coppini's models. A smaller set of changes was approved by both Coppini and the commission, and the coin entered production at the Philadelphia Mint in October 1934. The vast majority of this initial issue went unsold and was sent back to the mint to be melted down for its silver. Smaller issues were produced at the Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints for the four following years, even beyond the conclusion of the Centennial Exposition in 1936. The Texas Centennial Committee ceased sales of the coin in November 1938. Despite their relative lack of sales, the type proved popular with collectors, and gradually appreciated in value over the course of the 20th century.