A really nice Winston Churchill medal ... Some modern medals are attractive ... here is one.
BillJones
Posts: 33,981 ✭✭✭✭✭
I spotted this medal at the Lakeland show. Although I knew it was probably over priced, it didn't cost that much and so I bought it. The high relief on the obverse is really striking. The reverse is not as nice, but the combining of the American and British coats of arms is interesting . Churchill's father was British, but his mother was an American. This is a product of the Medallic Art Company, which is among the best of the modern medalists.
Winston Churchill was one of the giants of the 20 century. Had not been for him, the Nazis might have won World War II and the course of history would have changed drastically. I am glad that his bust has been returned to the Oval Office where it should be.
Was Churchill correct on all of the issues of the day? No. He tried to hold on to the British colonies for too long, and that was reason why his bust was removed in my opinion. But every great leader makes mistakes. Franklin Roosevelt wrongly imprisoned Japanese - American citizens during World War II, but I would not favor taking a jack hammer to his memorial in Washington, DC. Leaders should be judged on the really great things they did considered in the context of their times.
Comments
deleted--double post
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
I like it. Why couldn't the obverse of the 1965 Churchill crown have looked more like this?
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
It was struck by the MACO back when they were out in New York and is nearly 3'' in diameter.
Bill, if you like this one enough, this medal was also struck in silver.
I at first really didn't appreciate the Churchill Crown, but would always buy em because they didn't cost a lot, however over the years I find a kind of Diamond in the Rough Beauty to them, sorta like the Man himself. and I certainly appreciate them much more these days, however again, I wish they had made them in Silver.
Steve
You can't put a very high relief design like this on a mass produced, made for circulation coin. Teddy Roosevelt wanted to do that in 1907 with his High Relief $20 gold, but the Philadelphia Mint had to run for 24 -7 for a month to produce 12,300 of them. Those coins had to be struck tree times to bring up the design and the planchets had to be annealed (heated) between each of those blows. That is expensive and time consuming, and a mint can't do that when it has to produce hundreds of millions of coins.
Also striking a profile is easier (used to be much easier) than striking a three-quarters or full face view of an individual. The major exception to that has been the obverse of the Jefferson Nickel which has had a three-quarters view of Jefferson since 2006.
For those who are not familiar with the Churchill Crown, here is one. This coin was not well executed and oddly enough, virtually all of them have a marked up appearance. This is due to both rough handling and probably a situation where the dies were not deep enough to remove all of the marks that were in the planchets before the coins were struck.
When I was in London I asked a coin dealer there if they had seen any Churchill Crowns that were well executed and well preserved. They told that there had been some special strikes, but those coins were all in the hands of the government.
Nice looking medal and history, Bill. I highly recommend William Manchester's first 2 volumes of his Churchill biography, unfortunately he never finished vol. 3 which covered WWII. Still a great portrait of a brilliant and complex man.
I usually prefer the bronze versions of medals like this to the silver pieces. Believe or not I've seen the silver Libertas Americana medals, and from the collector view much prefer the far more common and cheaper bronze pieces.
That's a great looking medal. Churchill was a great friend of the US. I'm glad to see that President Trump put his bust back on display in the White House. I'm not sure why Obama ever removed it.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I agree this is interesting. It made me stop and read why both were there.
Remember when was in high school (-30 year ago), someone came into the local coin shop with a few WC crowns, and left very upset ....
Yes, they were demonetized after the decimal coinage was introduced.
Terrific medal
There is a known Churchill crown double die of Churchill's portrait at his outer eye brow, nose and chin... It is quite striking (pun not intended)
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Easy to put it in the White House since it was never removed from the WH during the Obama administration.
Ed. S.
(EJS)
I'm glad to hear this. At the time it was removed the main stream media reported that it was sent back to Great Britain which would have been a slap in the face of one of our best allies. It was bad enough that it was put into storage though and I'm glad it's now back on display in the WH.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
I would never have a bust of Winston Churchill in my house.
I'm Irish.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
That is a very nice medal Bill.... Churchill is one my heroes of the time..... I have always admired his actions and hold several of his quotes as guiding principles. Today, this being brought to mind, I will look for one of those medals or crowns to acquire - I should have one to add to my collection. Cheers, RickO
Nice medal Bill. Thanks for the history.
I was in an antique store today and they must've had 10 or so of those silver ones. Some for $3 and some for $5 from different consignors.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
If you can buy a solid silver medal of this size for $3, go for it! They would melt for over $100 quite easily.
Heck! That's a good price for the bronze medals. You should confirm first that they are indeed this exact medal. Most Churchill medals look alike, IMO. Still, almost all Churchill medals that I've seen, sell more than $5, since he is such a popular figure.
@ms70... Were you referring to the silver crowns rather than the medals?? Cheers, RickO
Just got the bronze Churchill medal.... Cheers, RickO
Great thread!
My YouTube Channel
I recently bought and sold an entire collection of those... over 90 medals. They were dubbed the "Hall of Fame" series.
All of them are beautiful in detail and the high relief on many of them are really life-like.
I kept 6 or 7 that were my favorite!
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
Yes, those medals were really nice. Gimbels Department Store used to sell them, and they made a big deal each year when the new ones were released.