Certifying US Medals

Cameo CC

Recently, I was in a meeting discussing certifying US Medals. The meeting produced more questions than answers. For example:

What is the difference between a US Medal and a US Commemorative?
Where does the modern US Medals begin?
What about third party medals (Franklin Mint, Kennedy Mint, etc.)?

These are just a sample of the questions raised in the meeting. My question for the Message Board is, “Should someone, like us, start certifying US Medals”?

I recently received an Email about the text (from our CoinWorld ad) honoring Veteran’s day. He was concerned that we did not mention the US Coast Guard in our text. He began to list the US Coast Guard’s contributions to US History and why they should be included and I agreed. But there is no US Commemorative for the US Coast Guard. Here is there website: www.uscg.mil. Shouldn’t there be a US Commemorative honoring the US Coast Guard? I think there are some US Medals.

Your opinions?

Todd

stujoe

I think 'commemorative' is usually used as a shorter version of commemorative coin. A coin has a denomination and is issued by a government (in my way of thinking) and can be (or could have been at the time of issue) spent for a designated amount in commerce even if it would be silly to do so. Medals can be made by anyone.

US government issued Commemorative coins and Medals typically both commemorate or honor something but the medals are not able to be spent in general commerce.

Corrections or dissenting opinions welcomed.

I wonder how much interest there would be in certifying medals? Some might require authentication but I wonder how much market there would be for certification and how much interest. Good question.

As far as the Coast Guard. Yes, they do deserve a commemorative, in my opinion, and so do a lot of other agencies, gorups, people, events and such. However, I don't want to see 100 commemoratives issued every year and I bet a lot of people who collect complete sets of them wouldn't want that either!

dorkkarl

a us commem, in the context of coins, is legal tender. medals are not.

K S

shirohniichan

Are there many US Mint medals still available? Back in the late 1970's I bought the catalog at the Old Mint in San Francisco. I looked through the US Mint website and have found very few and only new medals, not the restrikes of Indian peace medals and others I'm interested in.

Where have all the medals gone?

cladking

Most US mint medals were made in very limited quantities. These are avidly collected
by a small number of collectors at "high" prices. (anything over $50 is high for a medal).
There are several dealers who specialize in them. There are some interesting mint me-
dals made in more substantial quantities. One of my favorites is the pony express medal
made in Denver in 1960. This is part of a subset of mint medals with mintmarks and made
of the same metal.

There have been dozens of companies making medals and decorations over the years. One
of he more prolific was Whitehead & Hoag in Cincinnati. They made many different very
attractive medals for many years. They also made a huge variety of good for, coal, and other
tokens. These latter were made to order, generally in lots of 1000.

There are various medals made to commemorate the coast gaurd including a series of Mardi
Gras doubloons. These 39mm aluminum medals were usually thrown to the crowds during
the parades. Some of these are primarily for recruitment and contain a phone number to
sign up.

Cameo CC

Thanks for the clarification on the Medal vs. the Commemorative.

One of the difficulties is determining what is included in a Medal collection. How does one categorize the different medals – by composition, by denomination, or by date?

Any thoughts?

Todd

cladking

I broke out Julian's work "Medals of the United States Mint, The first Century 1792-1892" (1977).
R. W.Julian states that most mint medals of this era were produced in pure bronze, silver, and gold.
The only exceptions were made in coin silver or coin gold. Very little has changed in the intervening
110 years. Several appear to be made of bronze now days, and there are some made of pewter,
but these are usually replicas of older medals. If you count the proof and mint set medals then you
can add copper plated zinc, plastic, bronze, and cardboard. It would seem that there has been too
little change in the nature and production of these medals to separate them into classic and modern.
One might be tempted to use 1892 as a dividing line since this is the first year of commem coinage
and is the split for a major standard reference. According to Julian most of the medals have mintages
under 100 with many unique or two made. Virtually all are under 500 with a few up to around 10,000.

Medal collectors may be the only ones likely to resist slabbing more than darksiders.

Julian and collectors tend to categorize them by theme. Indeed this is a common way to collect all
medals.





blasted keyboard- - gonna have to fix this thing.

Cameo CC

I think I know why I am so confused. It seems like one could have ten categories (Types). We looked at the new issue Medals from the US Mint and when we began to follow the trail backwards we so so many rabbit trails. I think the US Mint (at least those in charge of the Medal program) must have been on drugs (please excuse this metphor).

I would like to certify US Medals but have not found a way to determine what a complete set would consist of or how to put it together?

Todd

cladking

Julian lists about 5,500 from 1792-1892. I'd guess around 10,000 all told.

Cameo CC

I guess if one could find a collector to purchase the complete they would have a fulltime job.

Todd

cladking

There are lots of subsets of these like the inaugeration medals, indian peace medals, assay
commission medals, and military. I don't think there are many collectors who confine their
collections to only mint medals though.

Cameo CC

I wonder if one could put together a set from, say, 1936 (when Proof sets began) to the present?

Todd