1937 Roanoke, North Carolina 350th Anniversary. MS-67 (PCGS). CAC.

1937 Roanoke, North Carolina 350th Anniversary. MS-67 (PCGS). CAC.，This highly lustrous, minimally toned Superb Gem has virtually pristine surfaces and exceptional eye appeal. A dual commemorative, half dollars of this type mark the 350th anniversary of the founding of the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke Island and the birth of Virginia Dare, the first child of English parents born on the North American continent. The present example is one of 29,000 pieces distributed from a mintage of 50,000 coins, with the remaining 21,000 examples destroyed through melting.<p>Founded in 1585 on Roanoke Island by Sir Walter Raleigh (whose portrait is depicted on the obverse of this coin), the Roanoke Colony was an attempt by Queen Elizabeth I to establish a permanent English settlement in North America. The colonists disappeared circa 1590 during the Anglo-Spanish War, their fate unknown, hence the nickname "Lost Colony" given to this settlement.<p>Virginia Dare was born August 18, 1587 in the Roanoke Colony to parents Ananias Dare and Eleanor White. The details of her birth were brought to England by John White, her grandfather and governor of the colony, during a voyage to the mother country later that year to obtain supplies. When White returned to the colony in 1590, the colonists were gone. The only clue was some lettering on a tree, CRO ATON, the meaning of which was unknown at the time and still is.，From the A.J. Vanderbilt Collection. Acquired directly from the Roanoke Colony Memorial Association, 1937.，