 The Philadelphia Mint coined 10 @,@ 008 Hawaii Sesquicentennial half dollars in June 1928 , with the eight pieces above the authorized mintage reserved for inspection and testing at the 1929 meeting of the annual Assay Commission . Fifty of the ten thousand were specially finished as sandblast proof pieces , to be presented to various individuals and institutions , such as members of the Cook commission , President Coolidge , and the British Admiralty . Of the remainder , half were to be sold on the Hawaiian Islands , half reserved for orders from elsewhere . The Bank of Hawaii took charge of distribution on behalf of the Cook commission . The price was $ 2 per coin , the highest for a half dollar commemorative to that point . 
