One of the more interesting aspects of researching any commemorative coin of the United States is the lack of information for specific coins.  Commemorative coins are usually treated as a category and information is presented as a portion of the topic covering all issues for a time period.  The Stone Mountain Half is no different and is usually sandwiched in with other coins issues in the "classic" period from 1893 to 1939.

This abbreviated presentation makes consistent information about any commemorative issue difficult to find.  Each author or collector seems to have a part of the story, or writes only about that portion of the story that is of personal interest.  While that may not be unusual, the problem is exaggerated by the abbreviated format.  In our research of the Stone Mountain Half Dollar we found this to be of particular concern because the issue of the coin was controversial and some of those feeling still persist.

In the United States commemorative coins have been issued since 1893 when the first coin supporting the Columbian Exposition was created.  Unlike normal coins issued by the Mint, commemoratives were issued to support a specific event or recognize a specific person.  Created under the control of the Mint, the coins were sold to a sponsor at face value and then re-marketed to consumers at a higher than face value price.  Commemorative coins are also subject to artistic interpretation more than regular circulating or proof coins.  This artistic expression sometimes leads to a less than ideal design, or one that the Mint might not create outside the commemorative event.

But earlier silver commemorative coins often made it into circulation for a number of reasons.  This wide spread use of them is one of the differentiating features from modern commemoratives which are issued by the Mint and viewed by collectors purely as a collectible and never as a circulating coins.  You can spend a modern silver American Eagle for its dollar face value, but it would not be advisable since its melt value is many multiples of its denomination.  Separation of the coin from the underlying intrinsic value forever changed the collectible versus circulation relationship of these special coins.