American Liberty 225th Anniversary Silver Four-Medal Set

But is it made of 90% silver?

 

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It really didn't occur to me until I came across your enlarged photo of last year's silver medal that the obverse side theme depiction is perhaps more than just slightly evocative of the rather unmistakable style of a typical German WWII-era "Aryan superiority" propaganda poster. Is it possible that this year's African American Liberty medal is a way of balancing that out...or, covering all the bases, so to speak?

 

I guess it really is very much each to his own because I love the Enhanced Uncirculated set; go figure. By the way, Calvin is far and away my absolutely #1 favorite comic strip character of all time; I have every single Calvin & Hobbes book ever printed!

 

What a racket THAT particular gambit obviously is, but to the Mint's credit(?) they actually ADMIT that they're doing that precisely as a way of bolstering the sales of their WW1 medals.

 

It doesn't sound like anyone - or very few - really want these medals. They just want something they can flip and make money on. So what's the difference between these big greedy dealers and other mint customers that fit into that category?

 

It's great to see another fervent railroad buff on here. I have awesome memories of taking the even-then-old steam train from Vienna to the Wachau (Danube River Valley) back in the early 1960's...what an experience, all that smoke blowing by as we, somewhat slowly of course, rolled along the river and between the grape-growing hillsides.

 

Yep, the Lion's Club commemorative dollar with that Mr. Magoo character on the obverse did it for me.

 

Actually, I think the obverse is very distinctive and unusually elegant; on the other hand, the stylized eagle on the reverse is a more than a bit of a flying turkey.

 

Gawd I hope not...oh the humanity!

 

Hey, no need to rub it in for those of us who went bananas.

 

Very astute and forward thinking analysis; I sincerely commend you for that chunk of wisdom!

 

I think the "more contemporary design" goal was actually a very well-intentioned and highly commendable one, but if they had REALLY been thinking they would have made this a dollar rather than a medal and it would have sold like hotcakes.

 

I'm not sure any kind of "hidden agenda" is what's at play here. When it comes to the annual commemoratives we already KNOW that vested interests, whether public or private, congressional or lobbyist, are traditionally who is in control of the decision as to which commemorative coins are released each year, so there effectively haven't been any secrets kept about the subject selection process for ages now.

 

True, outside agendas do indeed control which commemorative coins and medals are produced by the Mint on an annual basis, but that has been the story from day one. In fact, as you most probably already know, when it was decided some time ago that this helter-skelter (lack of?) process had gotten totally out of hand, Congress was prevailed upon to cut the previously runaway annual number of specific-interest-group-driven releases down to just two commemoratives a year. Going forwards, I don't think the Mint would in any way be able to assert any real degree of independence from its ruling political influences and/or imperatives, most especially so because it takes its marching orders directly from the Secretary of the Treasury.

 

Great designs, yes, but unfortunately the price is way above my pay grade, i.e., Social Security.

 

Anti-abortion coin? Maybe, but could also signify "be fruitful and multiply!"

 

I'm going to go with one simple bit of oldster-style-fixed-income homespun advice for the Mint here: Stop practically giving away the ASE's to the big-time dealers while pricing the collector's versions at three times spot and over!

 

There really isn't any; you're right about that. Clearly, there are in fact three distinct types of U.S. Mint product purchasers: dealers, flippers and coin collectors. You buys your ticket and you makes your choice.

 

If you look closely at the Eagle on the reverse, you'll notice that the head and tail feathers have a much more concentrated dippling than other areas of the medal.

When I first noticed it, I was looking at the Proof Medal and quickly mused that perhaps someone screwed up and mated a Proof Obverse with an Enhanced Uncirculated Reverse.

Checking the single medal which came out earlier this year, I could see that this simply was not the case since it too had the heavily concentrated dippling.

It looks a bit strange as the Proof, EU, and Uncirculated coins all appear to have the same reverse styles.

 

Keen eye there, "Calvin."