U.S. Mint Reissues Four Presidential Medals

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The U.S. Mint has reissued four Presidential bronze medals today, November 6. Available in both 3 inch and 1 5/16 inch options, collectors will again be able to obtain pieces celebrating the presidencies of Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.

As with other medals in this series, the new reissues are priced at $39.95 for the larger issues and $6.95 for the smaller pieces. They have no mintage limits, and can be discontinued or reissued by the Mint at any time.

The obverse of the Jefferson medal features an image of the President in profile with the inscription, TH. JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., and A.D. 1801, his first year in office. The reverse design includes renderings of a pipe, tomahawk, and two hands shaking, symbolizing cooperation between the U.S. government and Native Americans. The words PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP are inscribed amidst this design. The designer of the obverse is not known, but the reverse was designed and sculpted by John Reich.

This medal is a replica of the original Jefferson Peace Medal, or Indian Peace Medal. These medals were carried by Lewis and Clark on the Corps of Discovery Expedition and distributed to chiefs along the way as a gesture of good will.

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The Theodore Roosevelt medal features an obverse image of the President in profile, with THEODORE ROOSEVELT inscribed along the rim on either side of the image. The reverse bears a depiction of Columbia, with the U.S. Capitol building towering in the background. The inscription reads, INAUGURATED PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, SEP. 14, 1901, SECOND TERM, MARCH 4, 1905.

The TR medal is also notable because of who created it: its obverse was designed and engraved by C.E. Barber, while the reverse was designed and sculpted by George T. Morgan.

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The obverse of Franklin D. Roosevelt medal features a profile portrait of the President facing right, with the inscriptions PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT.

The reverse image mourns Roosevelt’s death with an image of a figure dropping a wreath into water. Inscribed around the design is FOR COUNTRY AND HUMANITY, INAUGURATED PRESIDENT, MAR. 4 1933, JAN 20, 1937, JAN 20 1941, JAN 20, 1945, DIED APRIL 12, 1945, and IN MEMORIAM. John Ray Sinnock designed and sculpted both sides of the medal.

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The obverse of the Ronald Reagan medal includes a profile portrait of the President with RONALD REAGAN and PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES inscribed along the rim.

The reverse image features Yosemite Valley in Yosemite National Park, with Half Dome seen in the distant center of the design. Inscribed on this side of the medal is “LET US RENEW OUR FAITH AND OUR HOPE. WE HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO DREAM HEROIC DREAMS,” from Reagan’s inaugural address, with INAUGURATED JANUARY 20, 1981, and YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK written in smaller lettering. Elizabeth Jones designed and sculpted both sides of this medal.

All of these medals are minted in Philadelphia, but contain no mint mark. For more information, please visit the Presidential Medals page on the U.S. Mint’s Web site.

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Comments

  1. JBK says

    Yikes – Rudy…you will get your wish, or at least part of it – I just realized that the Reagan medal will be done in silver next year. Wish they had a better design.

  2. Dustyroads says

    $600.00 is not too shabby! I would call that pretty darn good.

    Yes, I get the artwork of the Reagan medal…but why? It could have looked so much better, IMHO.

  3. KCSO says

    WHAT??? That’s the Regan Inaugural medal design chosen in ’80?

    Are you Flip’n kidding me?

    I can only hope the Regan C&C set is loaded up like FDR’s.., then I can simply over look it. Surely Nancy did not approve the design

  4. cagcrisp says

    I would expect the 4 set auction to go VERY well. Way too many people have a vested interest in it to fail…

  5. KCSO says

    Sir Cag, I suspect a tad bit of unfavorable news towards Au and we may see another price drop in the coming week, wishing thinking perhaps

  6. JBK says

    Just to clarify, the medals the Mint sells in most (all?) cases are not the official Inaugural medals – they are separate Presidential medals made by the Mint. The Inaugural medals were designed and minted privately as the Inaugural Committees are actually private organizations.

    I do not recall what Reagan’s Inaugural medals looked like, but I now they were nicer than this one.

  7. cagcrisp says

    @KCSO, Not wishful thinking at all. IF Gold just has an Average of $1,097.94 for the Next 4 fixes and Wednesday’s PM fix is under $1,100.00 then sure enough we will have Another price Decrease.

    I personally got my stock portfolio prepared for a Fed rate increase in October and with today’s numbers I sure think we will get it in December. Gold has gone down $95/oz in 22 days primarily on rate news…

  8. KCSO says

    Good to know Cag, as MGM pointed out previous thread, time to get while the get’n is good!

    7 – 1/4 oz AGEs left

  9. The Real "Cool" Brad says

    Worse than the shaky hand that carved Reagan’s likeness, it looks like it was badly photoshopped into the medal. Cut and paste buy a 6 year old.

  10. Dustyroads says

    The FED’s very concerned with the global outlook, so it’s hard to say with any certainty if the jobs #’s are enough to move a rate hike. The job #’s are much higher than projected but one still has to consider the participation rate. One thing has become clear, the FED is not very concerned with GPD, they are much more concerned with the USD remaining strong. I have this little voice telling me in the back of my head that our FED is thinking along the lines as becoming the worlds financial savior. This is becoming an interesting story!

  11. Dustyroads says

    BTW, I have always thought that the creators of ALF intentionally wanted the puppet to resemble Reagan, but no one I say that to agrees.

  12. Dustyroads says

    I hope the US Mint will someday numerically laser on all it’s coinage a tiny ID, only able to be seen through magnification. That would make looking through change more interesting, plus we would finally know what a first strike really is. The added value because of proof of early production such as in the case of DR’s coins above would also be nice.

  13. Hidalgo says

    Does anyone know if the US Mint plans to sell the set of Native American Code Talker medals as a set? The US Mint did so with the Presidential medals.

    Just wondering, as I would really like to own a set of the “talker” medals without having to pay retail prices for each individual medal.

  14. Jerry Diekmann says

    Oh, man! And I was looking to get the John Tyler, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan medals of our greatest presidents!

    Seriously, why did they have to make Reagan’s face so craggy? They made him look like he would be 150 years old or older. And everyone has already mentioned how disappointing the Kennedy dollar is – is there a Kennedy medal that hopefully looks better? Wonder if it would be the same size as the Kennedy dollar so it could be switched out with the C&C set.

  15. Jerry Diekmann says

    Cag – that’s over 3 times what I paid for the sets through the Mint. They are nice sets, especially the medals, but I’m just not sure that these sets are going to have a lasting value, though. A year from now they will probably have been forgotten and the prices will have come down, but that’s just my opinion. I think the Mint has overdone the RP finish – it really isn’t all that attractive, but again, that’s just my opinion.

  16. So Krates says

    The medal makes Ronnie look like Ben Grimm, better known as the Thing from the Fantastic 4…. “It’s clobberin’ time!” In reality though, by the time he was inaguarated, he did have quite the craggy face.

  17. paul G says

    Reagan had a long and distinguished life. He was at his best when he made Bedtime for Bonzo. If the mint would have used a likeness of him from his early days the coin would have looked much better..

  18. Erik H says

    David you’ll probably have to wait another 94 years before you get a commemorative S VDB cent. At least we got four different commemorative cents that were 95% copper in 2009.

  19. Je6 says

    Dustyroads the participation rate as well went down although minimal 0.1% but that’s a start. I do agree with you this may not be enough for the FRB to move but it just might. I say roll the dice, flip a coin,

  20. So Krates says

    I just picked up a 5 oz silver medal from 1987…..Deutsch – Sudwestafrika/ Namibia. The limited info I found online is conflicting. I’ve seen mintages listed as 500 and 2000. There is a nearly identical one here:

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/391165220069?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82

    But this listing seems like a Chinese fake. Mine is slightly more finely detailed and isn’t as perfectly “proofy” as this one and a lot of the Chinese fakes are. Capsule included is also a minor red flag.

    Any Elephant collectors (Somalia, Zimbabwe, etc.) know anything about these big 5 oz. Namibia elephant/75 Anniversary Reiterdenkmal medals? Did the Bavarian Mint produce these? How many? It seems like they might be more valuable than I thought if there are (suspected) fakes out there.

  21. So Krates says

    After some more digging I found an auction starting at $299 with a pic of a COA. 2500 proof medals were produced by the Budapest Mint in 1987. Any other info. or opinions on market value would still be appreciated

  22. Two Cents says

    D Rittenhouse,

    Those photos of the 2016 proof (silver?) ATB quarters sure look nice — much better than the drawings, especially the Ft. Moultrie and John Brown’s Fort. The Theodore Roosevelt looks outstanding.

  23. merryxmasmrscrooge says

    Reagan looks like a boxer who’s taken a lot of blows. Got the whole history on his face
    with a life on a rosen spattered mat thrown around in the ring.
    Rugged strong, he kiks az because his face says he’s beaten the odds.
    This makes the other 3 medals look too smoothed faced.
    I’m in fora Reagan.

  24. Two Cents says

    The Reagan Presidential Medal, issued in 1983 to commemorate the president’s first inauguration, was designed by Elizabeth Jones, the first and only woman to be appointed (by Ronald Reagan) to be the Chief Sculpture & Engraver of the US Mint (and the last person to hold that position).

    She also designed the 1982 George Washington Silver 50¢, the 1983 Los Angeles Summer Olympics Discus Thrower Silver $1, the 1986 Statue of Liberty Gold $5, the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics Gold $5, and the 2001 US Capitol Visitor Center Gold $5. During her tenure, she also oversaw the production of the 1986 American Silver and Gold Eagles.

    In the April 27, 2015 issue of Coin World, Beth Deisher (former CW editor and current Memory Bank columnist) said that Elizabeth Jones had decided to do a “slightly impressionist” depiction of President Reagan because she thought a standard smooth surface would be “boring.” Ronald and Nancy Reagan both liked the portrait designs.

    For the entire article:

    http://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2015/04/ex-chief-engraver-recalls-president-reagans-medal.html

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