1991 Studebaker Drivers Club Coin .999 Silver 1 Troy Ounce 1956 Golden Hawk 56

Description

These silver coins were issued by the Studebaker Drivers club (SDC) for several years beginning in 1987 commemorating SDC's 25th Anniversary and featured the Garford/Avanti SDC logo, and continued into the 2000s. Each coin is slightly larger than a silver dollar, consists of one troy ounce of .999 fine silver. The reverse of the silver coins is the same for all coins. Each coin was enclosed in an "invisible" airtight plastic case to prevent the silver from tarnishing.
The 1991 coin offered here, celebrated the 35th anniversary of the 1956 Golden Hawk. In previous years, 250 coins were produced each year. But for this coin, the SDC board authorized two minting sessions of 250 coins for a a production total of 500 coins. There apparently is no way of distinguishing the first minting from the second. Not that it matters, but I can tell you this coin is from the first minting session. At the time I had two 1956 Golden Hawks, and was probably among the first 25 people to buy one of these.
At one point, one long time SDC member volunteered to finance this project, but the SDC handled it instead. This one has never been taken out of its plastic case, and has been stored out of sunlight. It is a perfect as the day it was minted.
Other coins issued during the project's run:
The 1988 Silver coin commemorated the 25th Anniversary of the Avanti.
The 1989 Silver coin celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Lark.
The 1990 Silver coin celebrated the 40th anniversary of the popular 1950 bullet-nose Studebaker.
The 1992 silver coin celebrated the 30th anniversary of 1962 GT Hawk.
The 1993 silver Silver coin commemorated the 40th anniversary the 1953 Studebaker Starliner.
The 1994 Silver coin commemorated the 45th anniversary of 1949 2R Series trucks.
The 1995 Silver coin commemorated World War II Vehicles.
The 1996 Silver coin commemorated the 1966 Daytona Sports Sedan, from Studebaker's Last Year
The 1997 Silver coin commemorated the 50th anniversary of the 1947 First By Far With A Postwar Car coupe.
The 1998 Silver coin commemorated the 70th anniversary of the 1923 Big Six Speedster.
The 1999 Silver coin commemorated the 60th anniversary of the 1939 Champion.
A motion to terminate the production and sales of SDC coins with the 1999 model was presented and seconded. The motion. was defeated with a vote of 3 for the motion and 11 against. A second attempt to terminate the program resulted in a vote of 6 "No" and 6 "Yes". Since there was not a majority of yes votes, that motion also failed. In 2000, one member purchased the entire SOC coin inventory. He had been a strong supporter of the coin program and decided to sell the coins on his own. He also produced a 2000 silver coin that was added to his extensive inventory. I believe he continued to offer coins following SDC's abandoning of the project.
New Studebaker Silver Coins were made available for the
2000 Millenium,
2001 50th Anniversary of the V-8
2002 150th Anniversary of Studebaker. For Studebaker's 150th Anniversary, some of the Silver 2002 150th Commemorative Coins were minted with the 2 vehicles highlighted in 24 carat gold!
2003 A new Silver coin was minted commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1953 Loewy-Bourke Coupe, the first car of Studebaker's Second Century.
Apparently some coins were offered beyond 2003, but I don't know much about them, or who was involved.
2004 ?
2005  commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Speedster, A small number of the  silver coins with 24 carat gold coating on the vehicle was produced
2006 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the President.. A small number of the silver coins with 24 carat gold coating on the vehicle was produced.
2007 ?
2008 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Packard Hawk.