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The John Wayne Medal ... Not all Modern Medals are ugly
BillJones
Posts: 33,522 ✭✭✭✭✭
One person wrote in the George Meade medal string that most everything the U.S. makes these days is unattractive and wondered why the mint cannot do as well as it did in the 19th century.
Here is medal that the mint issued in honor of John Wayne some years ago. I think the design is good, but once again the backdrop is the "yellow bronze" sandblasted finish.
What do you think?
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?
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I completely agree with you Bill. I've long enjoyed the John Wayne medal design as being very focused and well-executed in its simplicity (obverse) and its excellent detail (reverse). I own a pair of these and display both obverse and reverse side by side in my office next to me as I type this. Of course, I am an enormous John Wayne fan so I may be slightly biased
I love it..........especially JOHN WAYNE - AMERICAN
Steve
I really like the reverse....
Yes, the reverse is as good as anything that the U.S. Mint issued in the 19th century. It captures Monument Valley where Wayne made some of his best pictures.
It was one of, if not the most, popular medal offered by the US Mint.
John Wayne, Monument Valley, no surprise a medal was made.
I actually have one of those. I'm a BIG John Wayne fan.
I have one or two somewhere. Nice little medals.
When were they released?
I really like the reverse!
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Little?! It's three inches in diameter!
They also produced it in the 1 5/16 inch size.
The medals were authorized by Congress in 1979 and first offered for public sale in 1980. In the first year they sold over 50,000 3'' medals and over 500,000 of the 1 5/16'' medals. They continued to be sold into the late 1980s, possibly the early 1990s.
There was one or multiple third parties that gold plated, and edge stamped a serial number on the medals and resold them. It may also be possible that the US Mint sold this medal with gold plating, and or gold plated with a bezel.
I'd also like to add that the US Mint has produced many great medals over the last decade or so. Not to say that there aren't many duds. They've also made improvements to the surface finish, in my opinion.
I like the medal, love The Duke!
I just can't get past that yellow bronze finish.
Huh. I didn't realize they were that old. I got a few smaller ones in a random bulk lot still in sealed cello squares I bought a couple of years ago. I kept one or two because I thought it was a nice design. Looks like I was right
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Was the reverse design taken exactly from one of his movies? Not to pee on the design, which I like, but I would have liked to see what Fraser or Remington would have done with that design.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars
This is part of the trouble with a fair amount of the stuff the mint makes for collectors these days. We spend too much looking backward at coins like the Mercury Dime, Standing Liberty Quarter and Walking Liberty Half Dollar, and too little time appreciating the good modern designs like the Dolly Madison commemorative silver dollar, the Statue of Liberty Half Dollar and the Columbus coins to name a few. Frazer and Remington to great, but they were of a different era. Back when they were designing there were no doubt those who lamented that the designs of the 18th and 19th centuries were no longer current.
The DUKE is an icon and this medal is of suitable quality to commemorate such a man-----when men were real men..........
“I may not believe in myself but I believe in what I’m doing” ~Jimmy Page~
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947)
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
The only negative part is that the finish of the medal was not nicer.
I tried to raise my three sons properly, don't know if I succeeded but we used to watch a lot of Westerns. to this day they still refer to John Wayne as "The Duke Guy" whenever we're together and see him on the screen.
Probably inspired by this thread, and that we recently watched "The Shootist" (his final film, set in Carson City),
I bought this small version for a dollar plus postage. Cent for scale
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
Very nice, I believe I will get one of those.... Cheers, RickO
Very nice medal ..... one of the best 3D work on the facial expression
Here is my fav of his...
Not especially impressed by either portrait or the reverse --- maybe it's the lighting. I agree that a better sculptor, such as one of those mentioned or Weinman, Aiken, etc., could have done much more with the medal.
Just noticed this was an old thread resurfaced
8 oz heavy and well struck IMO
mine seems a bit more orange or red if you will .
The very heavy ones at 8oz ..... I have 2 left to share if so desired
*Found them in box of odds&ends medals box given to me awhile ago......
When you see it in person, the reverse is really quite nice. It's just the "yellow bronze" that I don't really like. The Wayne portrait is so-so.
I will have to see if I can "round one of these up".
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Cool, I like it !!!
From E-Sylum
"The occasion arose in 1979 when the U.S. Congress
authorized a Congressional Medal for actor John Wayne.
Chief Engraver Frank Gasparro prepared the obverse
portrait and the 3-inch medal was struck. At that time,
the public could purchase bronze medals struck from the
same dies as the gold medal bestowed to John Wayne
for the princely sum of $3."
The E-Sylum article quoted by @bigmarty58 also indicates the gold plated versions were created by two people in Connecticut? Anyone know who those two people are?
Also, Frank Gasparro did both sides of the medal and this was the Mint's best-selling medal.
Here's more information from the article:
http://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n04a23.html
@zippcity
@carabonnair
@Timbuk3
@oih82w8
Ricko will take one; leaving 3 out for grab for the first 3 responders
It’s a really nice design. We need more designs with horses on them.
Maybe it’s a nod to his World War II service.. ducking!
If you still have one left, I'll happily pass it on to a YN I know
@RB1026
It was nice of you to spark interest for a YN. PM me with your mailing address
@Paradisefound
I'm astonished at your generosity, but remain content with the small one for now - mainly because it fits in my cabinet.
Pacific Northwest Numismatic Association
That is an unfair characterization.
• Wayne was 34 years old at the time of Pearl Harbor. As such he was rather old to be drafted, and he had a wife and kids which gave him a deferment.
• Wayne was under contract to Republic Pictures, a “poverty row studio” during the war. He was their only “bankable star.” Republic made money not only from his films but also from loaning him out to established studios.
• The president of Republic told Wayne that he would sue him for “everything you’ve got” if he broke his Republic contract. Wayne grew up poor, and he didn’t want face that again.
• After the war got going Wayne tried to enlist a couple of times. He begged director John Ford to pull some strings for him. Things never really worked out for that to happen.
• In the meantime, Wayne was working a full schedule. He was making four films a year. His films were popular, and they helped to boost morale back home. There others who had similar wartime roles, including Major League Baseball which continued to operate during the war. President Franklin Roosevelt supported and encouraged Baseball to continue despite the fact that men who could have been drafted were playing the game.
• During a rare break in his filming schedule, Wayne took a three month tour of the Pacific to entertain the troops. Many other stars did the same thing, whether they were officially enlisted or not.