Alabama half dollars were first placed on sale on October 26, 1921, the day of President Harding's visit to Birmingham, Alabama, where he as a Mason laid the cornerstone for the city's new Masonic temple, and as president addressed a segregated crowd, urging improvement of race relations. Coins were sold from specially-built booths constructed just off the city's sidewalks. It is uncertain whether these coins bore the 2X2 or not. Official records show that all the coins struck in October were of the 2X2 variety, and this was long accepted by numismatic historians. However, one coin collector recalled buying two of the half dollars that day, and over fifty later, all of the plain variety, and averred that none of the 2X2 could have been sold in Birmingham on the first day. As Owen wrote that the first 5,000 received bore the mark, Swiatek concluded that 1,000 of the October mintage was of the plain variety, all that was for sale in Birmingham. In December, 64,038 more were minted, with 38 set aside for assay. These were recorded to be of the plain variety. Both 2X2 and plain coins were struck from the same die; the mark was ground off to allow coinage of plain pieces.