US Mint Trump bronze medal - my imagination?
smuglr
Posts: 447 ✭✭✭✭
Earlier this year I thought I remember seeing a bronze medal on the mint website for President Trump's 2nd term. I do not see anything there now, or have any luck with other searches for it. Was it my imagination? or does anyone recall seeing it?
1
Comments
Did not see it and was not looking at medals on mint site, but I think it's way too early for a medal to be produced. It takes time to design, make dies, strike, etc.
Found this 2020 post from @BillJones about inaugural medals versus presidential medals.
Could you be remembering the official inaugural medal for Trump's second term from Medalcraft? Reference
They are mining the pyrite for these medals now.
I found two different answers:
The official Donald J. Trump bronze medal for his second term as President was released in early 2025 and is currently available from Medalcraft Mint, the company responsible for producing and marketing the medals for President Trump’s second inauguration. The Proof bronze version, measuring 2.75 inches in diameter, is available for public purchase, priced at $75 each as of March 2025. The medals were approved by President Trump and the inaugural committee, and the design features jugate profiles of Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. Sales began shortly after the January 20, 2025, inauguration, through outlets affiliated with the Medalcraft Mint and the inaugural committee.
As of October 2025, there is no official announcement or release from the U.S. Mint regarding a new Trump bronze medal specifically commemorating his second term as President. The current Donald J. Trump bronze presidential medals produced by the U.S. Mint commemorate his first term (2017-2021) and were released in two sizes, with design elements reflecting his initial inauguration and presidency. Any bronze medals currently available focus on this earlier period.
@HalfDime, please provide links. The political items dealers are asking huge prices for these pieces, which are not attractive. If it continues like this, I will pass. I have spent 5 figures for official inaugural medals. As of now the situation sucks.
This is the original article about them becoming available from Coinworld:
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/bronze-and-silver-inaugural-medals-being-made-for-sale
I think what the mint sells is not an inaugural medal though, so they must still be designing one for the series they sell.
"The first Trump medal released by the U.S. Mint was the Donald J. Trump presidential medal, posted for sale on the Mint's website on November 25, 2020. The medals came in two sizes: 1.3125-inch and 3-inch bronze versions, with the obverse designed by Benjamin Sowards and sculpted by Phebe Hemphill, featuring a portrait of Trump."
From this article is sounds like they might be posted next month like for the 1st term without any notice
https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/mint-releases-bronze-trump-presidential-medal-in-two-sizes.
Except those were posted at the end of his first term. So you may not see them till 2028/2029.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Collectors are often confused by official inaugural medals and presidential mint medals.
The official inaugural medals are usually made by private firms. They are offered for sale during the inaugural period and have a limited mint which cuts off when the president enters office or before that time.
Presidential mint medals are produced by the Philadelphia Mint. They can be be made at any time by the mint, their mintage can be unlimited, although in recent years the mint has stopped making some medals after a certain period of time. "In the old days" the mint continued to make and offer these pieces on a open ended basis, but that ended in the 1980s.
Here are three examples of the Theodore Roosevelt medal.
This is the mint medal in silver. This is an odd ball piece because usally they were made in bronze. The story is when I bought this piece was that there were a fellow named Rice who supplied the silver and the mint made this special medal for him. It was probably to dumb buy at the time, but I do have a nice piece of silver. LOL. The bronze version of this was issued on an unlimited basis until the 1980s.
In 1905 Theordore Roosevelt had two official inaugural medals. The first one was made of Davisons who had made medals in the past. Some thought this piece was too modest. The mintage was something like 4,000
The second was designed by Augustus St. Gaudens. Adolph Weinman, who designed the Mercury Dime and Walking Liberty Half Dollar executed the molds for this piece. It was cast, not struck, by Tiffany. The mintage was limited to 125 pieces. As you might guess, these medals don't come cheap.
not sure what this is all about.
https://x.com/TreasurerBeach/status/1974156375891804229
is politico a babylon bee partner?
coins are 2 years after death. that's the law. are our chains being yanked?
Thanks to all for the feedback and info. I so remember seeing it. I must have a vivid imagination lol.
wow
cnbc just covered it, and it's real.
this isn't a first term presidential dollar. so i guess that's coming too?
That's specifically in regard to the presidential dollars. Commems aren't bound by that rule - Eunice Shriver on the Special Olympics dollar for instance.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/03/treasury-department-trump-dollar-coin-00593368?bcrFallback=bcrFallback
Here the story is from another place...https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/treasury-department-considers-minting-1-trump-coin/ar-AA1NP6JT?ocid=BingNewsSerp
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Let's hope not. Secretary of the Treasury Bessent needs to nip this stupid idea in the bud by issuing a public statement that the law does not permit the visage of a living person to appear on US minted coins.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Not true. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was quite alive when she appeared on the 1995-W Special Olympics commemorative silver dollar. Also, President Calvin Coolidge appeared on the 1926 Sesquicentennial commemorative half dollar.
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
This dollar appears to be quite political in nature while the appearance of Calvin Coolidge on the 1926 commemorative half dollar was not. The reverse design is very similar to this 2024 campaign token. I don't think that this design is going to fly.
Not true. Eunice Kennedy Shriver was quite alive when she appeared on the 1995-W Special Olympics commemorative silver dollar. Also, President Calvin Coolidge appeared on the 1926 Sesquicentennial commemorative half dollar.
Here's what my Redbook says about the 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence commemorative half dollar:
The 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was the occasion for an international fair held in Philadelphia in 1926. To help raise funds for financing the fair, special issues of half dollars and quarter eagles were authorized by Congress. For the first time, a portrait of a president appeared on a coin struck during his own lifetime. Presidents Calvin Coolidge and George Washington are depicted on the obverse of the half dollar. The reverse bears an accurate model of the Liberty Bell. John R Sinnock, chief engraver of the United States Mint, modeled the sesquicentennial coins from designs by John Frederick Lewis. The dies were in very low relief, causing much loss of detail.
Coolidge's visage appears behind George Washington's on the 1926 commemorative. Does anyone see George Washington on the obverse of the proposed "$1 Trump coin"? Trump also appears on the reverse of the proposed "$1 Trump coin". Looks to me that the proposed 2026 coin would be more a celebration of Trump than a celebration of our nation's 250th anniversary.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
That so called Trump coin looks like it's actually a medal. Where's the denomination, year of issue, In God We Trust, and E Pluribus Unum? Don't forget that non coin collectors will call any metal disc a coin even when it isn't. This design reminds me of the military challenge coins which aren't coins but rather they are medals.
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 think since at least JFK they've all been done exclusively by Medallic Art Co., and with only one design. Jimmy Hayes is putting a book together on the inaugural medals. Over 700 pages, and I shot several hundred photos for it this summer. I love the Saint-Gaudens 1905 Inauguration medal. Unfortunately, his was in a PCGS slab, so it has the prongs in the picture.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Dual dated
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
This is a 1776-2026 coin for next year, and is being produced under the legislation they enacted for it. One website claims that some coins have already been struck a few days ago (no photos or confirmation given). However there is this that looks like an official engraving for production. JFM designed.Maybe others can say.
if there were a mint medal for the 2nd, it is a lot more likely than not the entry would still be on the mint's website
the 1st term still is on there
as far as the coin, the mint will strike a few to see how they look in physical form before approval and production
The MAC is defunct, and in any case I believe that the last several inaugural medals heve been struck by the MedalCraft Mint.
There is no rule that in order to show a current president the image of George Washington must also appear on the coin. The president in office at the time of the celebration was honored on a coin, which was unprecedented at the time, but the precedent was set.
This is just a general statement and not directed at you, but the problem with some people living in a state of perpetual outrage is that other people get outrage fatigue and things that might be truly controversial are just shrugged off.
The coin that has supposedly been proposed could understandably be expected to be very controversial to many, but these days it seems that everything is controversial and divisive so a lot of people won't bother to react.
We'll see if anything actually comes of it. However, I will predict that, for better or for worse, a commemorative coin with a limited mintage would be a fast sellout and an open mintage would result in a record-setting issue.
i think this will appeal to the republican coin collecting crowd and anything above a 50,000 mintage will be too much (i'm assuming it will be silver)
a clad coin's price level could probably handle a higher mintage
so i'm in the no fast sellout above a certain mintage due to price points and possible mintage limitations
NO US president's visage, living or dead, should appear on America's 250th Anniversary coin, in my opinion.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
we're talking a medal
Actually, there was some controversy in connection with the 1977 Carter Inaugural medals. There are separate ones that were issued. Julian Harris was the sculptor for the one issued by the Franklin Mint which I believe is the so-called Official inaugural medal. And then there was a set issued by Medallic Arts- including a separate one for VP Mondale. The sculptor for the Medallic Arts issue was Mico Kaufman. Through the passage of time, I appreciate both of them as they are quite different. In any event, any serious Inaugural collection should include both.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
True. I've taken my remarks to the thread discussing the proposed COIN. Thanks for the reminder to stay on topic.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
Thanks for being clear about not directing your remarks about outrage at or to me. You cannot know what truly outrages me in this forum about coins but I can assure you a shiny round chunk of metal with a president's image on it, no matter who that president might be, is far, far down my list of things to be outraged about. That is all I have to say here.
Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.
The bronze medals from the mint are usually released within a couple months of the end of the term. Most likely won't see it until first half of 2029.
The most recent for which I have a picture of the edge was Clinton's 2nd inauguration, and that's MAC.
I have a picture of the GWB inaugural medal, the first to be produced enameled, but not the edge where the manufacturer would be shown, so I don't know what the last MAC issue is.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Very interesting...and the Nevada address for MAC. It was on its way out through various buyouts and relocations.
I found a reference to the George W. Bush medal from 2001 being struck by Medalcraft, and I think they have struck all of them since then. They might be about the only outfit left that can produce large medals like these.
Following the 1961 Official Inaugural medal for JFK, Medallic Art Co. also struck the official medals in 1965, 1969, 1974 (G. Ford), 1981, 1985, 1989 & 1997.
The Franklin Mint paid large advances against sales to win the contracts for the 1973 & 1977 medals.
Hoffman & Hoffman struck the 1993 Clinton official medals.
Medalcraft Mint struck the 2001,2005, 2009, & 2013 medals.