The Connecticut Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1935. The commemorative coin was designed by Henry Kreis and depicts the Charter Oak, where according to legend Connecticut's charter was hidden to save it from confiscation. An eagle appears on the coin's reverse side. The Connecticut Tercentenary Commission wanted a half dollar issued, with proceeds from its sale to further its projects. A bill passed through Congress without dissent and became law on June 21, 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it, providing for 25,000 half dollars. Kreis's design was a Public Works Administration project and technically in violation of the new law, which said the federal government was not to pay for its design. Nevertheless, the design was approved and the commission, setting a price of $1 per coin, exhausted the entire issue. Kreis's design has generally been praised by numismatic writers.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Tercentenary_half_dollar

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1822:

Greek War of Independence: Ottoman troops began a massacre of tens of thousands of Greeks (depicted) on the island of Chios. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chios_massacre

1961:

Aboard Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin performed the first human spaceflight, completing one orbit of Earth in 108 minutes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin

1980:

Samuel Doe took control of Liberia in a coup d'etat, overthrowing President William Tolbert and ending over 130 years of national democratic presidential succession. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Liberian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

2014:

A fire broke out in the hills near Valparaíso, Chile, eventually destroying at least 2,500 homes and leaving approximately 11,000 people homeless. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Valpara%C3%ADso

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

push the envelope: (intransitive, idiomatic, originally aeronautics) To go beyond established limits; to pioneer. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/push_the_envelope

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

There are no words for the horror I have seen in Bucha, the ugly face of Putin's army terrorising people. And I have so much admiration for our brave Ukrainian friends fighting against this. They are fighting our war. It is our fight that they are in. Because it is not only Ukraine fighting for its sovereignty and integrity, but they are also fighting for the question whether humanity will prevail or whether heinous devastation will be the result. It is the question whether democracy will be stronger or if it is autocracy that will dominate. It is the question whether there is the right of might dominating or whether it is the rule of law.   --Ursula von der Leyen https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ursula_von_der_Leyen