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1904 St. Louis Exposition Medals by Weinman!

ZoinsZoins Posts: 34,113 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited October 24, 2020 1:41AM in U.S. Coin Forum

This is one of my favorite medals from an artistic perspective. These were done by Adolph Alexander Weinman.

The eagle on this one is just a stand out in terms of detail, relief and toning.

I just have this one right now but it seems like a full set of these would be 6 medals.

Does anyone know how many of these medals exist? Is there a census of some kind?

This Smithsonian page says the standard Silver Medal could be purchased for 50 cents.

https://americanart.si.edu/artwork/louisiana-purchase-exposition-silver-medal-1904-24934

Here's some info from https://www.expositionmedals.com/1904/ which seems to be down now. The following is from the Google Cache:

1904 St. Louis Louisiana Purchase World's Fair Exposition Medals

These are some of the most popular and collectable of all exposition medals. They are interesting because of their unique shapes and design, the unique material they are made of, and 5 levels of medals awarded. The exposition itself was popular and interesting also.

All of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition award medals were designed by Weinman and struck by the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia. The various award medals had different overall shapes, but common central designs.

The Engraver's Notebook (U.S. Mint at Philadelphia) for 1906:

  • 3,300 Grand Prize
  • 9,000 Gold Medal
  • 11,550 Silver Medal
  • 10,000 Bronze Medal
  • 6000 Commemorative (same as Gold award but with Commemorative in tablet on reverse

All of the medals were issued in the new bronze alloy, which was at first called "government bronze." The inscriptions on the tablets noting the award as "gold medal," "silver medal," etc. are merely descriptive and do not refer to the type of metal used. Some have original boxes and some have display frames. These attractive medals were good ones to display.


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