Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar Monroe Doctrine Centennial, this coin does no credit to Beach's stature as a first-class artist. What the coin exudes in patriotism, it lacks in art." A total of 162,099 Lexington-Concord Sesquicentennial half dollars were struck at the Philadelphia Mint in April and May, 1925, with 99 pieces set aside for inspection and testing by the 1926 Assay Commission. The coins were made from blanks, or planchets, that had been intended for mintage into 1924 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollars, but had not been used. The first coin struck was presented to President Coolidge. The half dollars were sold at the
Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano Carl Nielsen's Fantasy Pieces for Oboe and Piano ("Fantasistykker for obo og klavier"), Opus 2, were composed shortly after the composer had taken up the post of second violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra in 1889. The two pieces which make up the opus were first performed at the Royal Orchestra Soirée in Copenhagen on 16 March 1891. The oboist was Olivo Krause (to whom they are dedicated) and the pianist Victor Bendix. In her list of Nielsen's compositions, Emilie Demant Hatt notes that the first fantasy piece, "Andante" (later "Romance") was completed on