OREGON TRAIL HALF DOLLAR: OBVERSE AND REVERSE

Oregon Trail Half Dollar: Obverse and Reverse

Apropos David Lange's comment on the obverse and reverse of the Oregon Trail half dollar, I went down to the ANA Library to check contemporary reports on the issue.

The Nov., 1926 issue of "The Numismatist," pp. 614-615, illustrates the coin with the wagon as the obverse. The story includes the lines "The obverse has an old-time Conestoga wagon drawn by oxen towards the setting sun." and "The reverse has a full-length figure of an Indian....The left hand of the Indian is upraised as if warning the people of the East of the perils and hardships of the Trail..."

The 1927 U.S. Mint Report illustrates the coin with the wagon as the obverse. The description includes the lines "The obverse of the coin bears a likeness of an old-time Conestoga wagon drawn by oxen over the brow of a hill and towards the setting sun." and "On the reverse of the coin appears the full-length figure of an Indian...The left hand of the Indian is raised as in in warning to those of the East."

Sounds as though they were both working from the same press release, but they do both agree that the wagon is the obverse. The U.S. Mint was certainly in a position to know.

I strongly suspect that what happened is that at some point some wag decided it would be cute to put the Indian with his upraised hand on the left side of the wagon with his upraised hand saying "STOP!" to the white man. Others copied it, assuming that the image on the left must be the obverse, and now everybody gets it wrong.

Halt!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON OBVERSES AND REVERSES (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n23a18.html)

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