I have been chipping away at a set of presidential inaugural medals for many years. I've gotten down to the really tough ones, and this is one of them. Calvin Coolidge was a very conservative man who was of few words. One time a lady bet a friend that she could get him to say more than three words at White House dinner party. At the end of night, when asked about it, Coolidge responded "You lose." He said less than three words. Coolidge had a very dry wit. Coolidge became president in 1923 after Warren G. Harding died. He was elected to a term of his own in 1924. Coolidge was into big celebrations, including his own inauguration. There were no balls, no parade and no big celebration. They barely had an inaugural medal. The mintage on this one in bronze was 75 pieces. There three gold pieces which were given to the President, vice president and the Chairman of the Inaugural Committee. There were also two silver pieces, which have not been seen in many years. This piece is in a big PCGS slab. It graded SP-62 because of some spots and minor marks. Many of the survivors have something wrong with them, which is worse than this. I've had trouble taking a picture of the piece because the slab reflects back at the camera, but here it is.
Supposedly when Dorothy Parker was told that Coolidge had died she responded .........."How could they tell?"
