The Semi-official Trump Inaugural Medal ...
BillJones
Posts: 34,052 ✭✭✭✭✭
I just received this piece in the mail from H. Joseph Levine. Instead to re-writing his advertising copy, I'll present the history of this piece here. Maybe there will be another medal, maybe not, but this one was at least given to VIPs during the inauguration period, which something that can't be said for the official medal ... if there is one.
The Levine text:
__OFFICIAL TRUMP INAUGURAL MEDAL OF THE OHIO REPUBLICAN PARTY 2013.
70mm. Bronze. Peer Hansen, Sc. (Medalcraft Mint). Choice Unc. Housed in its original
presentation box with wooden stand. Obverse with a high relief front facing bust of President
Trump with just a hint of a smile. His name, DONALD J. TRUMP is inscribed above. The
reverse legend reads: FORTY-FIFTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
INAUGURATED JANUARY 20, 2017 around a representation of the American eagle as it
appears on the Presidential Seal. The edge is inscribed MEDALCRAFT MINT at 12:00 and
OHIO OIM 2017 at 6:00.
This medal was commissioned by the Ohio Republican Party. The Trump obverse was chosen
from a selection of obverse designs commissioned by Medalcraft for submission to the Official
Inaugural Committee as its official medal. However, due to the indecision of the Trump
Inaugural Committee, the Ohio party was given its choice of all of the Medalcraft designs. We
have seen each of Medalcraft's Trump portraits and, in our opinion, this is the best of the lot. Peer
Hansen, who crafted this design was also the responsible for the obverse of the 2013 Obama
Official Inaugural Medal.
About 500 of these medals were struck for distribution to various VIPs attending the inauguration
in Washington.
Comments
Awful portrait..... Is this what "medalic art" has come to?
It is terrible. The likeness is poor but, in all fairness, that hair would be a great challenge even for Augustus St. Gaudens.
when things get designed on a computer, this is what you get
Perhaps Trump's good friend Governor Kasich had a hand in the design.
I have not seen the official one yet... and I am reasonably sure there will be one... However, given coin 'art' today... this is a reasonable portrayal.... better than the prezzy series.... I would pick one up if reasonably priced. Cheers, RickO
Thx for posting. I ordered one a couple days ago but if I had not already seen a notice about it elsewhere your post would have alerted me to it.
I don’t think inaugural medals are any kind of investment (unless you but gold or silver and benefit from a drastic change in precious metals prices), but this one has at least some slight chance of being a bit of a rarity if there is never an actual official medal issued.
The 2017 Inaugural Committee dropped the ball on a lot of the traditional Inaugural trinkets. There was no Inaugural license plate issued in DC, only one simple commemorative Inauguration Day postmark for Washington D.C. (and not various cities important to the Pres. and VP as is normally the case), and, so far, no official Inaugural medal.
BTW – I agree with some that the design leaves a lot to be desired. I looked recently at a catalog of older issues and since GWB or so the medals are less artistic. No offense to them but I think this corresponds to when Medalcraft started issuing Inaugural medals. I miss the days of the Medallic Art Company and the Franklin Mint.
It's a Homer Simpson job. Nobody is going to buy this. Dang. you bought this?
Respect for you just turned down a notch.
At least the DJT could have been centered. Srsly.
Too many letters to the left vs. right, J dot is not the middle.
The eyes are crossed too.
Amazing.
I think it's lovely
"2013?"
The reverse is nice.
Not sure I want anything to commemorate him
Latin American Collection
Actually the older ones have more of a following than you might think. They all sell for much more at auction than the prices listed in the last guide book by H. Joseph Levine. The 1905 Theodore Roosevelt medal by St. Gaudens sells for well over $20,000 in really nice condition, the Harding medal can bring more than $20,000 in the right venue and the Coolidgemedal is worth more than $10,000,
Sorry you disagree Mr POR
Latin American Collection
I'll wait for the impeachment medal.
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My sets: [280+ horse coins] :: [France Sowers] :: [Colorful world copper] :: [Beautiful world coins]
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Its not that bad of a medal really. I think I may be a buyer.
Imagine if he tried to make Hillary look good.
What about a better paying job. less regulation for businesses, a booming stock market or smaller government?
I would settle for a smaller government with Trump not being part of it.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
In the current political climate that is impossible. If Sanders had been nominated, we would have president Sanders.
Bill
I will not make any further political commentary on your thread other than to observe that as of this writing, four disagree with my prior post. And I suspect the numbers that disagree may increase and that is fine... I think it is best to just agree to disagree and move on.
Not a fan of the medal and as I wrote in a different thread, it makes me appreciate the others I own more because with the majority of those, the engraving was not the lost art that it has become today.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
How many "disagrees" do you need before you are automatically banned?
Latin American Collection
I agree that the metal is not attractive. Even the reverse which some people like, is nothing but an inferior rehash of The Great Seal that has appeared on other medals and coins.
Like it or not the medal is a monument to what I believe was greatest presidential election upset in history. Not even Harry Truman's victory in 1948 is equal to it. Some of the same signs were there. In 1948 Truman's crowds were large and boisterous. Dewey's rallies were smaller and less enthusiastic. Truman's campaign hit the road hard and strong with an extensive whistle stop campaign swing while Dewey rested on his laurels.
Still the sophistication of modern polling, which is much more scientific than it was in 1948, made the 2016 result more shocking. For better or worse the man with saltier language and more direct mode of expressing his views won the election just as it was in 1948. Given that perhaps it is proper that the Trump medal should have its rough edges.
Harry Truman's medal paid tribute to the those who got him elected, the everyday folk who voted for him on the reverse of his medal. If you look at the lower left of the reverse you will see them. If the Trump medal designer had been a bit more inventive perhaps such a subtlety would have made his piece more attractive.
I am sorry that I have disappointed you, but history is what it is, and it's not always pretty.
Bill, that comparison to Truman was a great analogy and spot on. The medal is also very nice. I do believe they will issue an official inaugural medal...why would they break a long tradition? Just busy with a lot of important stuff right now... Cheers, RickO
The comparison of these two images is odd. How it is a great analogy, I'm not sure, but, WTH, stranger things happen.
Any word yet on an "official" medal?
I hope I am not going back on my written word. The Trump upset was amazing but it does not match the Truman upset of 1948 for several reasons. Truman was not overly popular and was the incumbent President. He never filled the shoes as a party leader in the tradition of FDR. The New Deal coalition fell apart with a split Democratic Party... Former VIce President Henry Wallace from the left and the Dixiecrats lead by Strom Thurmond that made it improbable that Trumann would carry the South. So how could Truman win without carrying New York and the south? Well he managed to run well and carried states such as Ohio and California. And winning California was considered impossible as the popular Governor Earl Warren was Dewey's VP. Truman ran stronger in the Midwest and West. While Truman had the benefit of Alben Barkley who was also underestimated and a tireless campaigner, not even Democrats gave him much of a chance to win.
Trump benefitted from being a TV personality and capitalized on the public perception that Washington was inept. He was the ultimate outsider and was able to capitalize on frustration that has not been seen in decades. The Brexit vote was an indication something was terribly wrong and the experts got it wrong. Truman as the incumbent President had to deal with the early stages of the Cold War, CIvil Rights, inflation, jobs and be accountable for all the problems that were overwhelming at the time. Trump was not accountable for anything and could not even produce his income tax. While Trump's win was amazing, I don't see it as surpassing the Truman upset of 1948.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
I have to wonder why my previous post on this thread disappeared.
I simply indicated that I would buy the "official" medal and not the "ohio" medal.
No political commentary was added, even though I wanted to.
So I'll state again, I am a buyer of the official medal.
So there!
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
My digital cameo album 1950-64 Cameos - take a look!
Enough with the politics. Let's stay on topic with coin talk. We all enjoy our coins and can learn from each other. I hear way too much political talk everywhere else.
Are you going to start talking about yourself in the third person? C'mon man!
History and politics are intertwined. Today the politics of a given historian effect his or her interpretation of events long past, and it's been that way since people started writing history. If you are going to write about political medalets or inaugural medals, you can hardly avoid it.
One need look no further than at the writings of the much respected historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. He was a Democrat who served in the Kennedy administration, and it showed. Read his classic, Pulitzer Prize winning book, _The age of Jackson._There are many other examples.
It's clearly an Accented Hair variety (or maybe Exaggerated Hair) as he doesn't have nearly that much hair. Fortunately not a full body portrait - who knows what else might be exaggerated.
Where did you find the pictured medal?
My YouTube Channel
Token and medal dealer H. Joseph Levine is offering them. His company it Presidential Coin and Antique Company.
https://www.facebook.com/Presidential-Coin-Antique-Co-Inc-116011441762507/
Thank you Bill!
My YouTube Channel
Well, until the official comes along, I'll have to settle for this.
The price with postage is $67.50. The price will probably come down, but it's an interesting souvenir from a most historic election.
There are two things this piece has going for it. One, it was given out to campaign workers at the time of the inauguration which is something you won't be able to say about the "official medal" if there is one. Second the mintage so far has been 500 pieces. That is quite a bit lower than it has been for most modern inaugural medals, even the examples in silver and gold.
That's not to say that there won't be more struck, but if that number sticks, this piece does have a low mintage going for it.
Any word on an "official" medal yet?
A Coin World article from several weeks mentioned an Inaugural-style medal that appeared on the Trump campaign website. It is being made by Medalcraft and while the obverse seems to be one of the original proposed designs, the reverse is entirely different from the Ohio or RNC medals. Does this one count as the "official" medal? You decide.....
https://shop.donaldjtrump.com/products/presidential-medal
It looks more like a campaign piece than an inaugural medal. Inaugural medals usually have the date of the swearing in and often mention the vice president.
That was not in the cards. Dems are not for smaller government. There were 15 other R choices for nomination and none had any real ideas for getting American back on it's feet and that's why he won. And, I'll say that he's doing exactly what he campaigned on.
Well there are these versions as well. Plenty of different portrait options to consider for anyone interested. I will stay with official US Mint versions, but I am getting a bit tired of too many medals being created by so many, including the Mint.
trumpdollar.us/2017-trump-dollar/
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Not going to engage in a further political debate. I will just agree to disagree.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Yep but then, I've never met a sculpture or medalic rendition of a living person that actually looked like that person. (Think Presidential Dollars!)
Did George Washington 'really' look that goofy? I mean, on the dollar bill and the Quarter. We all accept those particular renditions but then we really have no idea what he looked like in person.
With Trump, we know.
The name is LEE!
Jean-Antoine Houdon was a great scul;ptor and Gilbert Stuart was an excellant portrait painter.. Stuart sometimes got in trouble when he tried to paint people below the neck, but his faces were good. I think we know what George Washington looked like.
As for the Washington Quarter we have known for a long time that that design was a weak effort. Ditto for the presidential dollars. The Lincoln portrait on the presidential dollar could have been on the cover of "Lincoln Vampire Slayer" AFTER Lincoln turned into a vampire.
The old PAM presidential portraits were pretty good overall.
Do you really believe DJT would allow mention of anyone but him on valuable real estate such as a medal commerating him? Seriously?
US Civil War coinage
Historical Medals
It's my understanding that this medal had the LARGEST MINTAGE of ANY OTHER medal in the history of the world...... it was HUUUUUUGE!!!!!
I might well be wrong but I thought I had read that the VP was often included on 2nd term medals but not first term ones.
the official version of this medal is hooded.