The 1954 Washington-Carver half dollars mark the fourth and final year of this commemorative type honoring social pioneers Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. Both were contemporaries of each other, with the former -- great author and presidential pioneer and the latter -- renowned inventor and scientist. The coin bearing their jugate portrait was designed by Isaac Scott Hathaway, who designed the earlier Booker T. Washington half dollar and became the first African American to design -- U.S. coin.

The typical 1954 Washington-Carver half dollar is known in uncirculated condition between the grades of MS62-65. Examples grading MS66 are scarce and pieces grading MS67 or higher are extremely rare particularly because of the sweeping, flat surface on the reverse, which depicts -- geographical map of the United States.