Numismatik-Cafe

Between-the-wars. A somewhat scarce American quarter-dollar from the Denver mint, dated 1927d. The country (and much of the world) went wild for Lindbergh and his solo flight across the Atlantic that year.

WWI had spurred the development of aircraft and of aviation in general, and in the postwar the large numbers of surplus military planes found widespread civilian use. (Many of these 1927 quarters, in fact, would have found their way into the pockets of “barnstormers” giving people airplane rides at state and local fairs, and on many other, often impromptu occasions.)

Within a decade, though, civil aviation would be pushed into the background. Military aircraft would again demand everyone’s attention.

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For fun, and I hope a few folks will find time to contribute--the more perspectives, the better...

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Between-the-wars. A 1929 quarter-dollar from the year of the stock market crash and the beginning of the Great Depression. Like the other nations, America turned inward. Money…and the lack of it. As money became scarcer, the large war debts owed to the U.S. by Britain and by France seemed increasingly important. The Americans felt cheated. So it would be “Cash-and-Carry” when war came again.

Until it became too desperate, and then, at almost the last minute, it was “Lend-Lease.”

By then, of course, the Standing Liberty of this 1929 quarter was long gone, replaced by Washington on the quarters of 1941.

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Between-the-wars. Uruguay must have been a happening place in 1930. The centennial of the 1830 Constitution and the founding of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay was being celebrated, and this 1930 10-centesimo “Centenario” commemorative was a part of it. So was the Estadio Centenario, the new stadium built in 1929-30 for the first-ever soccer/football World Cup. 1930: Uruguay hosted; Uruguay won. And I wonder, did this 1930 10-centesimo make it across the Atlantic from Paris in time to have maybe been at the Estadio Centenario that July?

Italia would host and win the 1934 World Cup; France would host the 1938 World Cup, which Italia would also win.

But that would be it for the years between the wars. The 1942 World Cup would be cancelled, as would the 1946 contest. Not until Brazil in 1950 would the world’s premier football event return.

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Between-the-wars. In 1928 the United States of America: coined this 1928s Peace dollar in San Francisco. It was, arguably, the last full year of the postwar. Next year would come the American stock market crash, the Great Depression, and the beginning of the pre-war decade. The irony is palpable. Minting of the Peace dollar would pause after the 1928-dated coins, because the 270M silver dollars melted in 1918 to help the British war effort had all been replaced.

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I love this informative thread. Many thanks!

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Danke Afrasi. I find them enjoyable to write. Well,maybe :cathartic" is more accurate.

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Between-the-wars. This 1932 5-centesimo piece was coned at the American mother-mint in Philadelphia and shipped south to Panama, site of what was then perhaps the United States’ most prized overseas possession—the Panama Canal. Certainly it was at the center of American defensive planning.

The Japanese had renewed their depredations in China in ’31, so by 1932, War Plan “Orange” (for war with Japan) was being dusted off and updated. But not only “Orange.” As this 1932 5-centesimos was being delivered to Panama, the Canal there was a linchpin of War Plan “Red-Orange.”

“Red-Orange” addressed what was then—in those long-ago days before atomic bombs and intercontinental bombers—the ultimate nightmare of American defense planners…simultaneous war with the Japanese and British Empires. Against a combined assault by these two dominant naval powers, the Americans would have to be able to transfer their ships from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and vice-versa, quickly. But even then….American chances were not good.

Still, it was only 1932. War Plans “Orange” and “Red-Orange” would prove useful, but that was years away. It was the here and now of 1932 that demanded American attention. This Panamanian 5-centesimos was struck on a planchet that could have been used to coin a 1932 Buffalo nickel. But there were no new nickels in 1932, Buffalo or otherwise. They weren’t needed. Too many Americans were broke.

Early in 1932, many thousands of Depression-weary WWI veterans marched to Washington D.C. to demand the early payment of their military service bonuses. They set up tents and shacks and stayed, many with their families. But the “Bonus Army” didn’t get its money. Instead, the marchers were driven out and their encampments broken up and burned.

It was War Plan “White”—prepared in case of domestic insurrection—that was used, in part, against some thousands of American WWI veterans in 1932, between-the-wars.

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