I picked up this medal at a flea market a couple weeks ago for $2.00. It came with the original box and sleeve,all in excellent condition. I'm not a Coast Guard vet and don't really collect these medals but when I saw this one in person I had to have it. In my opinion the design and artistry on this one is very comprable to the classic commems of the early 20th century. Now why can't the mint do our modern silver dollar commems like this?
Nice pick up! Is this one of the small 1 5/16" sized medals or the larger 3" medal? If it's the larger one, then you got it for a steal as they currently retail on the US Mint web site for $42! And the Mint certainly could do these in silver since they are the ones doing them in bronze. I imagine it has more to do with controlling interests behind the coin legislation that prevent that. Perhaps, its the less popular and less widely collected bronze pieces that are able to sneak by in this regard.
I didn't mean I wanted this particular one in silver necessarily(although it would look awesome). I just wish the mint would choose designs for the silver commemoratives that had a more classic look like I feel this one does.