 Although 2,501,700 half dollars were melted (all dated 1893), this still left a similar number of Columbians in public hands.Coin dealer and numismatic historian Q. David Bowers recalls that when he began collecting coins as a boy in the 1950s, the Columbians were among the most common 19th-century pieces remaining in circulation.It was not until the 1930s that the pieces, in uncirculated condition, commanded the original price of $1.