The Maryland Tercentenary half dollar is a commemorative fifty-cent piece issued by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1934.

A design had already been prepared by Professor Hans Schuler; it passed review by the Commission of Fine Arts, though there was controversy then and since over whether Lord Baltimore, a Cavalier and Catholic, would have worn a collar typical of Puritans.

The Commission sold about 15,000 of the full issue of 25,000 for $1 each (equivalent to $23 in 2023), and thereafter discounted the price for large sales to dealers and speculators, getting as little as sixty-five cents per coin.

Maryland's early settlers had founded St. Mary's City on land granted by King Charles I to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore.

[4] In 1934, commemorative coins were not sold by the government—Congress, in authorizing legislation, usually designated an organization which had the exclusive right to purchase them at face value and vend them to the public at a premium.

The coin's designer, Hans Schuler of the Maryland Institute College of Art, made changes and brought the coin's plaster models back to the mint on the 14th; Sinnock generally approved of the changes but Lawrie had further suggestions, including moving the words IN GOD WE TRUST from the reverse to the obverse, adjacent to Lord Baltimore, who had decreed religious freedom in Maryland.

[14] Schuler made the lettering changes, but would not accept the criticism of the collar, stating that he had based his depiction on a well-known painting of Baltimore by Gerard Soest.

"[3] Don Taxay noted, "since Calvert's own coinage depicts him in a loosely draped garment, the [Fine Art] Commission's objection to the puritan collar was probably well founded.

[18][19] The Maryland piece and the York County, Maine Tercentenary half dollar (1936) are the only U.S. coins to have a cross as part of the design.

The state motto appears on the ribbon beneath the arms, FATTI MASCHII PAROLE FEMINE, sometimes translated from Italian as "deeds are manly, words womanly".

[24] In July 1934, the Philadelphia Mint struck 25,000 Maryland half dollars, plus 15 extra that would be held for inspection and testing at the 1935 meeting of the annual Assay Commission.

Hoffecker testified before Congress in March 1936 about commemorative coin abuses, and stated that he had learned that about 1,000 had gone to a dealer in the Southwest, and when he visited the Tercentenary Commission's offices, the elevator operator told him he had bought 500 to lay aside for the future.