A Ronald Reagan Chronicles Set with some commentary
BillJones
Posts: 34,773 ✭✭✭✭✭
I decided to purchase this set at the same time that I placed an order for the Lions Club commemorative silver dollar. I had some reservations because it is on its last legs as a mint offered product. Sometimes you get the rejects that the legitimate collectors send back because the coins have real problems. You can also get the coin the flippers reject because they believe they won't get a PR-70 Reverse Proof dollar. Those coins are often okay for a collector like me. Fortunately the set came through in nice shape.
I bought this set for four reasons. First, I admire Ronald and Nancy Reagan and salute them for the service they gave to our country while he was president. Second I wanted the little bronze medal, which is the cheapest item in the set, because it was a copy of the gold medal that Congress awarded to Ronald and Nancy Reagan for their patriotic service. Thirdly I wanted the folder and booklet that housed the set. Lastly, I had not purchased a Proof American Silver Eagle for while and decided to add one to my collection.
I would have also purchased the Truman and Kennedy Chronicles sets, but the mint chose to market those items to the flippers so that they could make money on the Reverse Proof presidential dollars that came in those sets. Once those sets were broken up so that the presidential dollars could be certified, the sets lost all of their charm for me, despite the fact that the presidential dollars are the least desirable item in the set so far as I'm concerned.
I think that the Reverse Proof presidential dollars are ugly. I much prefer the conventional Cameo Proof versions. I tried to photograph the dollar in this set with no success. The pictures all made Reagan look like a politically incorrect personification of Al Jolson from The Jazz Singer. At any rate, I'm no fan of Reagan's portrait on these dollars. The toothy grin makes him look more like Bug Bunny than the handsome actor and ultimately elder statesman that he was.
Here is the small medalet that attacted me to this set. My photo does not do it justice, especially on the reverse. It is an attractive little piece, but it would have been even more attractive if it had been done in higher relief in a larger size. Still that would have defeated the purpose of reproducing the Reagan gold medal as it was originally awarded.
Comments
This medal was also produced in the 3 inch size.
I would like to see that one.
https://catalog.usmint.gov/ronald-reagan-bronze-medal-3-inch-142.html?cgid=presidential#pmax=50&pmin=25&_ga=1.201992213.540545442.1430161764&start=1
Thank you for that link. That is an attractive medal, but it's not the same design.
The portrait of Reagan on the C&C medal should have been the portrait of Reagan on the presidential dollar.
My Adolph A. Weinman signature
I much prefer it this way. Nancy and Ronald Reagan were a team. He was the love of her life, and she was his perpetual defender, and his greatest supporter. That "choppy" modernistic Reagan portrait appeared on his first inaugural medal, and I have never cared for it. If that portrait had been used for this set, I might not have bought it.
loriferber.com/ronald-nancy-reagan-us-mint-medal.html
They're only difficult to find if you're in the market for one