He saw a reference to a proposed Maine Centennial half dollar and realized that a coin could be issued for the Pilgrim anniversary in support of the observances at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Numismatist Q. David Bowers has cited the fact that the coins were struck in the second year as the start of a trend to force collectors to buy more than one piece in order to have a complete set.

The Pilgrims were Brownist English Dissenters; they sought a version of the Christian religion without things they deemed nonessential, such as bishops or Christmas.

[2] They had few opportunities in the Netherlands as they were limited to manual labor by the guilds' refusal to accept them, and they feared that their children were straying from their language and religion.

[1] So they left that goodly and plesante citie, which had been their resting place near 12 years; but they knew they were pilgrimes and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits.

Squanto taught the Pilgrims indigenous methods for cultivating corn (maize), a plant native to the New World with which the emigrants were unfamiliar.

His diaries were published as Of Plymouth Plantation and constitute the major source of information concerning the Pilgrims' daily lives.

Congress, during the early years of commemorative coinage, usually designated a specific organization allowed to buy them at face value and to vend them to the public at a premium.

[8] Legislation for a Pilgrim Tercentenary half dollar was introduced in the House of Representatives by Massachusetts' Joseph Walsh on March 23, 1920, with the bill designated as H.R.

That committee held hearings on the bill on March 26, 1920, as well as on the coinage proposal that would become the Alabama Centennial half dollar, which was the first order of business.

Once the committee voted to favorably recommend the Alabama bill, which provided for 100,000 half dollars, it proceeded to consider the Pilgrim proposal.

Vestal had two days previously written to Treasury Secretary David F. Houston, and Houston responded that while his department had not opposed the Maine Centennial (previously approved by the committee) or Alabama coinage bills, the Treasury had concerns that issuing large numbers of different designs would aid fraudsters.

As the Maine and Alabama pieces were considered, Ohio's Warren Gard asked a number of questions about various matters, including regarding the wisdom of having so many half-dollar designs issued, though he did not object to the passage of either bill.

Congressman James W. Dunbar of Indiana noted that the price of silver had risen so high that the Mint might be out of pocket in striking the coins, and asked if the federal government would cover any losses; Vestal responded that Massachusetts would.

Vestal then moved the committee amendment to reduce the authorized mintage from 500,000 to 300,000, attracting the attention of Gard, who asked the reason for the change and was told the original bill had a typographical error.

[16] The bill was referred to the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency; on April 28, Connecticut's George P. McLean reported it back with a recommendation it pass.

[22] The selection of Dallin apparently delighted Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) chairman Charles Moore, who wrote to the sculptor in convivial terms.

[22] Numismatists Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen deemed Bradford's broad collar near enough to Puritan wear of the day to pass, though they questioned the authenticity of the ruffled cravat.

Numismatic writers have focused much attention on the fact that the ship bears a triangular flying jib, a type of sail not used at the time of the Mayflower voyage.

[31] Art historian Cornelius Vermeule, in his volume on U.S. coins and medals, deemed the Pilgrim half dollar "a masterpiece in the conservative tradition".

"[33] The Philadelphia Mint coined 200,112 half dollars in October 1920, with the excess above the round number reserved for inspection and testing at the 1921 meeting of the annual Assay Commission.

The 1921-dated Pilgrim halves were created to "get" the collector, as [coin dealer] B. Max Mehl put it, to pander to the desire of numismatists to achieve complete sets.