Texas Centennial Half Dollar (1934–1938): What's It Worth?

Specifications

Denomination: Half dollar
Designer: Obverse: Pompeo Coppini; reverse: Pompeo Coppini
Weight: 12.5 g
Diameter: 30.61 mm
Edge: Reeded

Five years, three mints, 13 date-and-mintmark combinations: the Texas Centennial half dollar was struck from 1934 to 1938 — and with this issue, grade is everything (Wikipedia; APMEX).

History

On June 15, 1933, Congress authorized up to 1.5 million silver half dollars marking the 1936 centennial of Texas independence, to be issued for the American Legion Texas Centennial Committee — the first of more than two dozen commemorative coin bills that would pass during the Roosevelt years, ending a pause on new commemoratives under the Hoover administration (Wikipedia).
Texas sculptor Pompeo Coppini designed both sides: an eagle perched on an oak branch before the Lone Star on the obverse, and a crowded reverse with the winged goddess Victory spreading her wings over the Alamo, flanked by portraits of Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin beneath the six flags of Texas. The Commission of Fine Arts rejected his first models as crowded and overly complicated; a compromise was reached and production began at Philadelphia in October 1934 (Wikipedia; APMEX).
The coins were a fundraiser for the Texas Memorial Museum in Austin. They were sold at the Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas, at celebrations in Austin and at Fort Worth’s Frontier Days, by the University of Texas Longhorn Band on tour, and at the National Tomato Festival in Jacksonville, Texas. Sales stayed soft: a final 1938 issue of 5,000 coins per mint was struck in January 1938 and sold at a raised price of $2 each, and remaining stock was returned for melting after sales ended in November 1938. In all, 304,000 coins were struck across the four years of issue and 154,522 — a slight majority — were melted by the Treasury (Wikipedia).
On August 5, 1939, Congress cancelled all unexpired commemorative authorizations, formally ending the Texas series along with other multi-year issues. This entry is part of the Classic U.S. Commemoratives series.

What is it worth

The 2020 deluxe edition of the Red Book lists the Texas Centennial half dollar from $130 to $1,900 depending on date, mintmark, and condition (Wikipedia).
The 1934 Philadelphia issue is by far the most numerous but was treated as a novelty souvenir, so it is commonly found mishandled or circulated. Price differences between issues are minor in lower mint-state grades but diverge significantly at MS-65 and above; an exceptional 1936 Philadelphia specimen sold for $14,100 in 2015 (Wikipedia).
At the top end, premiums are dramatic: a 1937-D graded PCGS MS-68 — one of only nine at that grade, none finer — was listed on Stack’s Bowers Marketplace in July 2026 at $12,900 (CoinWeek).
Typical collector-grade transactions are far lower: one eBay sold listing for a 1937-S graded PCGS MS65 closed at $329.95 in March 2026 (eBay).

What drives the premium

Grade above all: poor strikes are common, especially on the reverse, as is damage from polishing or improper cleaning, so choice uncirculated examples with clean fields command the real money (Wikipedia).
Low-mintage late issues: the 1938 coins had net distributions under 3,900 per mint, and an older Numismatic News market review priced the 1938 three-coin set at $755 in MS-60 and $1,255 in MS-65 (Numismatic News).
Exceptional quality for the issue: Swiatek singled out the 1935-D as the most appealingly produced of the series, with proof-like surfaces early in the production run (Wikipedia).

How to identify the valuable variety

There are 13 date-and-mintmark combinations: 1934 from Philadelphia only, then Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco issues for 1935 through 1938. Philadelphia coins carry no mintmark; the D or S appears to the right of Victory’s foot on the reverse (Wikipedia).
Counterfeits exist and are worth screening for: NGC documented a fake 1937 with poor detail and porous surfaces struck in 58% copper, 30% zinc, and 12% nickel instead of 90% silver — it weighed correctly at 12.55 g but was visibly thicker than a genuine coin because the base metals are less dense than silver (CoinWeek).

Specifications

Composition: 90% silver, 10% copper (Wikipedia)
Weight: 12.5 g (Wikipedia)
Silver content: 0.36169 troy oz (Wikipedia)
Diameter: 30.61 mm (Wikipedia)
Edge: Reeded (Wikipedia)
Alignment: Not verified in consulted references
Designers: Obverse: Pompeo Coppini; reverse: Pompeo Coppini (Wikipedia)
Mint: Philadelphia (no mintmark), 1934–1938; Denver (D) and San Francisco (S), 1935–1938 (Wikipedia)

Collector notes

Mintage context — net distribution by issue (Wikipedia): 1934-P 61,350; 1935-P 9,988, 1935-D 10,000, 1935-S 10,000; 1936-P 8,903, 1936-D 9,032, 1936-S 9,057; 1937-P 6,566, 1937-D 6,599, 1937-S 6,630; 1938-P 3,775, 1938-D 3,770, 1938-S 3,808. The committee originally hoped to sell up to 1.5 million coins; the 304,000 actually struck fell far short.
Because the 1934 was sold as a souvenir rather than saved by collectors, it is the issue most often seen with impaired surfaces — check for old cleanings before paying mint-state money (Wikipedia).
The reverse is one of the busiest designs in American coinage; even genuine high-grade coins can look softly struck on Victory’s wings and the Alamo (APMEX).