The York County, Maine, Tercentenary half dollar is a fifty-cent piece
minted in 1936 as a commemorative coin to commemorate the 300th
anniversary of the founding of York County, the southernmost county in
Maine and the first to be organized. The obverse shows Brown's Garrison,
a fort around which York County developed, while the reverse depicts the
county's arms. A commemorative coin craze in 1936 saw some coins
authorized by the United States Congress that were of mainly local
significance; the York County issue was one of these, passing Congress
without opposition in the first half of 1936. Maine artist Walter H.
Rich designed the issue; his work has garnered mixed praise and dislike
from numismatic authors. The Philadelphia Mint struck 25,000 for public
sale. Less than 19,000 sold by 1937, more than half to Mainers; the rest
were sold in the 1950s. As of 2021, the York County half dollar catalogs
for around $200, depending on condition.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_County,_Maine,_Tercentenary_half_dollar>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1600:
Scottish nobleman John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, was killed
during what was most likely a failed attempt to kidnap King James VI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ruthven,_3rd_Earl_of_Gowrie>
1888:
Bertha Benz made the first long-distance automobile trip,
driving 106 km (66 mi) from Mannheim to Pforzheim, Germany, in a Benz
Patent-Motorwagen (pictured).
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Benz>
1981:
U.S. president Ronald Reagan fired the 11,345 striking members
of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization en masse.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_%281968%29>
2011:
NASA launched the Juno probe to Jupiter as part of the New
Frontiers program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_%28spacecraft%29>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
side-eye:
(transitive) To look at out of the corner of one's eye, particularly
with animosity, or in a judgmental or suspicious manner.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/side-eye>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the
human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner
soul ... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.
--Neil Armstrong
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Neil_Armstrong>
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