(1974) Medal U.S. Customhouse Silver Wheeling, WV questions/help please
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I've been trying to decipher what 4 medals the Minet struck for the Customs Dept in 1974(I presume)
I also presume there are 4 because I found reference while googling but haven't found any in silver.
There must be as PCGS states there is but then they say its bronze.......I'm going to say that's a typo......lol
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Does someone have any pics or info as to how many were made? The only one I have is
(1974) Medal U.S. Customhouse Silver Wheeling, WV (Regular Strike)
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From PCGS.
Link to coin facts
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1974-medal-u-s-customhouse-silver-wheeling-wv/891850
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Comments
Steph,
Here's what the U.S. Mint says regarding the series. US Mint site offers written items on all 4 sites.
Jim
Fourth Medal in U.S. Customs Series Honors Wheeling, West Virginia, Customhouse
Press Release
May 20, 1974
The fourth in a series of medals commemorating historic customhouses in the United States has been struck by the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Mint in collaboration with the U.S. Customs Service.
The medal features the U.S. Customhouse in Wheeling, West Virginia, locally known as West Virginia Independence Hall. It will be presented to officials of the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation, Inc., during a U.S. Customs Service bicentennial ceremony on May 23, 1974.
The Wheeling Customhouse is depicted on the obverse side and the seal of the U.S. Customs Service is on the reverse of the 1-5/16-inch miniature bronze medal. It was designed by Philip E. Fowler of the Philadelphia Mint.
The medal will be sold locally by the West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation, Inc. It will be available at the customhouse following the 2 p.m. presentation ceremony, and at all banks in Wheeling.
The medal, along with three earlier ones in the series which depict Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Boston, and San Francisco Customhouses, are available at the Bureau of the Mint’s exhibit and sales areas in Philadlphia, Denver, San Francisco, and at the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., for 50 cents. They may be ordered by mail through the San Francisco Mint, 55 Mint Street, San Francisco, California 94175 for 60 cents each. A 3-inch bronze medal of the Georgetown Customhouse is also available in the Mint’s sales and exhibit areas for $5.00, and through the mail for $5.25.
The Wheeling Customhouse, completed in 1859, is the work of Ammi B. Young, renowned Supervising Architect of the Treasury from 1852 to 1862. The beautifully proportioned Italian Renaissance Revival building was the scene of two historic events following the Civil War. In June 1861 a convention met in the building to consider the vote on Virginia’s secession from the Union. In 1862 the third floor courtroom served as a convention hall when the new State of West Virginia was formed.
The Federal Government sold the customhouse to private interests in 1912. In 1958 it was acquired by the State of West Virginia for restoration as a state monument. West Virginia Independence Hall Foundation, Inc., which is restoring the building, plans to use the customhouse to interpret the story of the formation of the state.
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Thanks so much @jesbbroken on the info. I’ll try to search the mint site for the others. Well they must have made
one in silver and one in bronze/copper as I have both. They are of good size but no as large as a silver dollar.
Just thought the building design was superior……guess that’s my architectural background coming through…..lol
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
I also own a silver Wheeling and have a silver San Francisco currently out for grading. The SF mintage is 300 per the mint director report 1974. I won that at a PCNS drawing a few years back. The SF one is the only silver one itemized in the mint director’s report. I have been able to track down but do not own silver Yorktown, silver New Orleans, silver Savannah. I took screenshots but don’t own the photos. I found a newspaper article indicating the silver Yorktown were available for sale by the local DAR chapter. (Daily Press 9/3/76). I suspect the silver were offered as part of the dedication ceremonies. I cannot find any reference to the mint selling these directly to the public.
Thanks so much!
Can you post them when you get them back. I really want to see what they look like
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
John Dean indicates that, in addition to the 11 small bronze medals in the set, and the small silver medals mentioned in this thread, there also exists a 3-inch bronze version of the Georgetown Custom House medal. The US Mint's product number system (for sales to the public) has numbers for the 11 small medals and only the one large bronze medal. There are no numbers or mention of the silver medals in the sales documents.
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Interesting, everything I read online(Google) there was a series of 4. You’re saying that there are actually 11.
I am aware of the 3” bronze but have not see on come to auction.
I’m sorry I don’t know who John Dean is……is there a book or booklet he wrote on these?
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
John T. Dean is author of book on U.S. Mint medals.
His website is here:
http://www.jtdean.com/
He even has a custom insert from ANACS for his collection:
This image (courtesy of John Dean) is of a US Mint sales document that lists the 11 small and one large bronze Custom House medals:
Great image! Please give our thanks to John Dean.
Here are the customhouses from the card. The order on the card matches the order of release for the 3 with press releases. Also, @Some_of_it indicated seeing a a silver Yorktown so if they are done in order, then all have been released.
I've added press releasees where available but I've only been able to find the 3 on USMint.gov. Here's the result of a search on the site:
It's great that the USMint has both the text and a scan of the original release. I believe the original is in color while this is a black and white scan.
I forgot that I went through the Mint Directors reports back in 2022. Attached is what I could find. The ones listed in red, I have seen in silver. Wheeling silvers appears often on eBay. I have never seen any other silver on eBay. The pics of the silver medals I pulled off the internet. I own the PCGS MS69 picture above.
Thank you so very much everyone! I can’t thank you enough for all the research you’ve done for me!
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC FOR SALE
The silver SF Customhouse medal is on the way to me from grading. I’m happy with the results.
Hi, I was trying to do some research on this token(?) my grandmother has, and found this discussion. I was wondering if anyone could give me more info on the silver Savannah version.
From the research I've done and reading here, it seems like there were 5 (or maybe Savannah was just the 5th in the series?) of these Customhouse medals made in the 1970s. But it sounds like they were minted in bronze for sale to the public, and then some were made in silver, maybe to be used at ceremonies. But I can't find anything about how many were minted, or really any other information.
I found photos (here and on ebay) of the Wheeling, New Orleans, and Yorktown medals in silver, but no information at all about the Savannah silver medal. Does anyone know how many of these were minted, is it actually silver or is it clad, and any idea what it might be worth?
Thanks for your help!
I looked in the 1975 and 1977 editions of the Coin World Almanac and could not find anything on them, even in the section on laws authorizing medals.
I have these books because I helped work on them.
What color are the edges?
Might be worth checking Mint Reports for the era.
The mint records do not disclose the mintages for the silver versions of these medals except the San Francisco. That is 300. They were likely sold during the re-dedication ceremony for each custom house. I found two records of that happening. Mintages are most likely similar to the SF medal except Wheeling. That is much more common and appears on EBay frequently.
There are 11 different 33 mm medals in bronze. I’m not sure if all were struck in silver but these were: Boston, San Francisco, Wheeling, Yorktown, Savannah and New Orleans. Georgetown was struck in 3 inch bronze as well. No other three inch bronze or silver struck as far as I can tell.
That looks like a cool thing to have, I like
@CaptHenway Thank you for checking in your books. It seems like I came to the right place! I appreciate the help. The edges seem to be solid silver, not with a line through the middle like a clad coin. But it's hard to see it well through the plastic, which I figured I should not remove. The only thing I could find on the Mint website were the articles already mentioned earlier in this thread. And the article about the Savannah token doesn't mention anything about silver.
@Some_of_it Your theory on the silver versions being sold during the rededication ceremony makes sense. My grandmother lives in Savannah, is very involved in local history, and would have been here at that time. I did some research from that angle and found that building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and that the Historic Savannah Foundation was involved with that, and I know my grandmother was involved with that group.
But when I asked her where it came from, she told me that she thought it had to do with something from the bicentennial, and there is a plaque on the front of the building saying that it was commemorated in 1976 (https://hmdb.org/PhotoFullSize.asp?PhotoID=16172), so I am thinking she went to that, and that is where she got the token from.
Thank you for all of the other info about what you have found on the mintage. It sounds like you have spent significant time researching this, so if you haven't found exact answers, I doubt that I will either. I think that's just going to have to be good enough.
Thank you both for all of your help!!
(sorry if I'm not using the forum correctly, I couldn't figure out how to reply to a comment)
You are doing just fine. Welcome.