RCC/A Modern Commemorative with North Carolina Ties

A Modern Commemorative
with
North Carolina Ties

The U.S. commemorative coin program for the 1996 Olympic Games held in Atlanta, Georgia was the largest commemorative effort ever put forth by the U.S. Mint. In all, there were sixteen different coin designs produced (4 clad half dollars, eight silver dollars, and four gold half eagles). As each was available in both proof and uncirculated finishes, a complete set consists of a whopping 32 coins! Half of the series was issued in 1995, the other half in 1996.

At the time of their release, none of the coins proved to be very popular with the public and far fewer coins were sold than originally anticipated. This is particularly true of the uncirculated issues. In fact, mintage figures for the four 1996 silver dollars were less than 17,000 each for the uncirculated pieces. This has caused the retail price of these issues to climb above $100 each, more than triple the original $31.95 selling price.

One of the 1996 silver dollars has close ties to North Carolina. Bart Forbes, the well-known American painter and illustrator, created the design for the Rowing dollar. Mr. Forbes is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, receiving his BA from the university in 1961.

Many of Mr. Forbes' works focus on sports. In addition to his many private and corporate commissions, Mr. Forbes has also designed more than 20 U.S. stamps, including the 1988 Olympic Stamps, and the Lou Gehrig and Jesse Owens commemoratives. He was the official artist of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, and also painted the official posters for the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games. Golf is a particular interest of Mr. Forbes and has led him to create official posters for many PGA Tour and Senior PGA Tour events.

Mr. Forbes' obverse design for the 1996 Rowing dollar features a men's team competing in the coxless four event (four men, one oar each, no coxswain). The 1996 U.S. Olympic team consisted of Sean Hall, Jeffrey Klepacki, Tom Murray, and Jason Scott. Though the team did not win a medal at the Games, the coin was number one with collectors among the 1996 silver dollar issues. It had the highest mintage figures among the four coins - 16,921 uncirculated and 155,543 proof coins were struck.

Mr. Forbes was born in Atlus, Oklahoma in 1939 and currently lives and works in Dallas, Texas.

Until next month, Happy Collecting!

The RCC grants permission to reprint any articles not copyrighted by the author for non-profit educational purposes only, provided the Raleigh Coin Club and the author are cited as the original source.