Cool San Francisco Mint medal...

cmerlo1

...struck by me!

While going through my first coin collection from when I was a kid, I rediscovered this SF mint medal. Sometime in the early 1980's we visited San Francisco and the Old San Francisco Mint. During the tour, we came to a coining press, and for a fee (I can't remember how much) you could strike your own medal. They would put a blank in the press and you pushed the button to strike it. I'm wishing now I had offered the tour guide a few more bucks to let me double-strike it or strike it off-center... here it is in the original packaging they sealed it in after I struck it:

Barndog

cool story



I wonder if there are some examples out there off center or double struck.

MedalCollector

It is a nice medal. There are a couple varieties.

Yours is a typical example of the first type of medal, with the mintmark. The mint mark style changed over the years, though.

The second type of this medal was struck in 1976. The reverse side bears a depiction of Mary Brooks.

The third type was struck very recently, likely not before the turn of the century, at the Philadelphia Mint. It does not have a mintmark.

Originally posted by: Barndog
cool story

I wonder if there are some examples out there off center or double struck.

I have an example that is double struck broad struck. Sorry, I don't have photos. There is another example of this medal out there that was struck on a Denver Mint bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. I'm sure there are other errors out there as well. Every now and then you'll find a blank planchet for this medal.

Zoins

Originally posted by: cmerlo1
...struck by me!

While going through my first coin collection from when I was a kid, I rediscovered this SF mint medal. Sometime in the early 1980's we visited San Francisco and the Old San Francisco Mint. During the tour, we came to a coining press, and for a fee (I can't remember how much) you could strike your own medal. They would put a blank in the press and you pushed the button to strike it. I'm wishing now I had offered the tour guide a few more bucks to let me double-strike it or strike it off-center... here it is in the original packaging they sealed it in after I struck it

Great piece and a great story! I've yet to strike my own medal but I imagine it's a great experience! Nice looking piece too. I like the eagle and the map.

Originally posted by: GoldenEgg
There is another example of this medal out there that was struck on a Denver Mint bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. I'm sure there are other errors out there as well. Every now and then you'll find a blank planchet for this medal.

I wonder if that was an error if they would let you supply your own planchet / coin if you asked?

cmerlo1

Originally posted by: GoldenEgg
It is a nice medal. There are a couple varieties.

Yours is a typical example of the first type of medal, with the mintmark. The mint mark style changed over the years, though.

The second type of this medal was struck in 1976. The reverse side bears a depiction of Mary Brooks.

The third type was struck very recently, likely not before the turn of the century, at the Philadelphia Mint. It does not have a mintmark.

Originally posted by: Barndog
cool story

I wonder if there are some examples out there off center or double struck.

I have an example that is double struck broad struck. Sorry, I don't have photos. There is another example of this medal out there that was struck on a Denver Mint bicentennial Kennedy half dollar. I'm sure there are other errors out there as well. Every now and then you'll find a blank planchet for this medal.

Many thanks for the info! I know I struck mine well after 1976. My brother and I didn't start visiting my dad in California until 1979, and this was 1 -2 years after that at least. The 'S' looks like the 'blob' type used on the 1979-S Susan B. Anthony dollars...

cladking

Interesting.



I've seen this packaging and didn't know there's a story behind it.

WillieBoyd2

I visited the San Francisco Old Mint sometime in 1982 and purchased a medal like the one above;
it was sold in the little plastic bag.

I also bought two boxed proof 1982 George Washington commemorative half-dollars at the time.

SaorAlba

I visited the mint around the same time, ca. 1981-2 and remember buying one of those medals -I think they were a dollar each. I still have mine somewhere, curiously though I found one of these things in the original wrapper in a coin machine reject slot last year.