 Sales began October 8 , 1928 ; supplies were quickly exhausted . Numismatists Anthony Swiatek and Walter Breen , in their book on commemoratives , write that while " there was never any scandal about these coins " , there were unconfirmed rumors of hordes of coins , totaling as many as 1 @,@ 500 , taken from the allocation for Hawaiians and kept off the market . One such grouping , of 137 pieces , comprised coins from an allotment for the Bank of Hawaii for sale to its employees . When the coin the bank put on display was stolen , the bank president took the others off sale , and they remained in the vaults until 1986 , when they were sold at auction . Many Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollars were purchased by non @-@ collectors and display the effects of poor handling . 
