1935 Old Spanish Trail Commemorative Half Dollar MS65 NGC

This is an excellent example of the ever popular Old Spanish Tail commemorative half dollar.  This example is a lovely gem state example graded MS65 by NGC.  The coin was designed by Lyman Willaim (L.W.) Hoffecker, owner of Watkins Coin Company in El Paso, TX, and later President of the American Numismatic Association.  He enlisted the assistance of local sculptor, Edmund Senn to produce the plaster models for the mint to execute.  The coin commemorates Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish explorer who traveled what would later become the U.S. Southwest (Texas, New Mexico and Arizona) and Mexico, prior to returning to Spain and chronicling his travels in one of the first widely distributed accounts of the people and lands of the New World. The  obverse of the coin shows the head of a cow, which alludes to Cabeza de Vaca (literally translated as "Head of the Cow").  The reverse depicts the section of the Old Spanish Trail linking the East and West Coasts of the United States from St. Augustine, FL to El Paso, TX.  With a small mintage of only 10,000 coins, the Old Spanish Trail remains a highly popular classic commemorative which demands a premium in all grades.

DESIGNER: L.W. Hoffecker

DIAMETER: 30.60 millimeters

WEIGHT: 12.50 grams

MINTAGE: 10,008