Heraldic Art Medals

I had a few requests from people to create a topic for Heraldic Art Medals.

These medals were struck from 1959 through 1978 to fill the void left when the US Mint ended the commemorative half dollar program in 1954. They were produced and mostly designed by Robert McNamara.The series consisted of 60 medals, issued sequentially at a rate of 3 per year for 20 years. To collectors, most of the medals are referred to by their medal number (I through LX -- 1 through 60). Most of the medals commemorate important events and persons in the history of the USA. You can find a lot of good information and scans of the original issued literature on this website: Heraldic Art Medallions

In addition to the 60 regular issue medals, McNamara also released 7 special occasion medals. All of the medals were issued in "maximum mintages" of around 6,000 pieces. However, a fair amount of evidence exists to suggest that (particularly for later issues) many of the medals were struck in smaller than that mintage. Coupled with the fact that many, many of these medals are suspected to have been melted down during the 1980s silver boom as "junk silver", no one really knows how many of these medals still exist.

I first came across the Heraldic Art Medals when I was looking for coins, medals, tokens, and other exonumia that feature the image of a horse. Many of you know that I have a quite large collection of horse-themed pieces (around 200 pieces and counting), and these medals fit well in that theme. In fact, of the 60 regular issue medals, 13 feature a prominent horse theme (and an additional 1 of the 7 special medals also features horses). In short, most of these equine images are high relief, with stunning detail, and are quite compelling as pieces of art. Of the 13 regular issue medals featuring horses, I have so far acquired 8 of them -- but my raw example of medal number 4 is not shown below because I intend to replace it with a better quality piece. I show below my images of 7 of these medals. They are some of my favorite horse-themed pieces.

If you have any of these medals, feel free to post your images here also. I did a search, and there doesn't appear to be a thread of this type on CoinTalk already.

Medal Number 6 -- Pioneer Inventions


Medal Number 7 -- Kansas Statehood


Medal Number 8 -- Civil War Centennial


Medal Number 9 -- Tippecanoe


Medal Number 17 -- Founding of St. Louis


Medal Number 31 -- Bicentennial of San Diego


Medal Number 51 -- Bicentennial of 2nd Continental Congress

 

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I am good friends with Don Smith who runs http://www.heraldicartmedallions.com/about.html

I recently bought 50 pieces from Mr. Smith out of his extras. I also had the pleasure of photographing his dies and die trials he acquired from the McNamara estate.
Here are a few I photographed today.

 

I know...old thread, but I was doing some research and came upon it. Great examples brg5658 & LostDutchman!

 

I knew about the Kansas Statehood medal for awhile and want one sometime - but the other designs I have not seen and I really enjoy them also.

 

I really like the St. Louis one.

 

Here are a few more I have acquired since my first post:

 

D*** I like those.

 

Nice! Thanks for sharing! I think out of the new batch the Yellowstone is my favorite.

 

I picked up a more difficult of the Heraldic Art Medals with a horse -- A lovely example of a "special occasion" piece. In addition to the 60 main medals issued over the 20 years from 1959 through 1978, 7 special occasion pieces were also issued. The occasional pieces were issued in smaller mintages (max 5,300 medals) than the main 60 medals (mintages usually around 6,000 medals). This is the 3rd of the 7 special issues, designed and struck very shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

This medal has wonderful surfaces, with light champagne toning in the centers, and the lightest violet toning at the periphery of both the obverse and reverse. I also find the design quite beautiful in general, with semi-high relief that was common on many of the Heraldic Art Medal pieces.

I'm also posting a close-up of some of the lovely detail below.

 

These are fantastic!! Thanks for sharing these. Never even herd of em before now.

 

A few new pick-ups from this medal series:

Special Issue / Occasional Piece #1
1961, Dag Hammarskjold Memorial


Special Issue / Occasional Piece #2
1962, Project Mercury and Telstar


Special Issue / Occasional Piece #6
1969, Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial

 

Lovely........simply lovely. I remember the day when Hammerskjold's plane went down. He was a capital statesman, humanitarian and diplomat.

 

Attractive looking medals!

 

I don't think any of the 60 regular issue medals or the 7 occasional medals make reference to Maine. But, if I find one that does I will let you know.

 

I have my sisters collection of Heraldic Art coins including #4. I am interested in disposing of the entire collection in order to settle the estate. How do I find a market for the 40+ coins I have?

 

Sorry for your loss.

Best to start you own thread, with pictures, to get the best answers.

 

Just purchased my first one. It was the 100 year anniversary of West Virginia statehood. It was in a NGC holder graded MS69. I lived there for 20 years.

 

edited - forum rules

 

Well...I'd like to resurrect this thread, if I may, to share a couple of these I picked up at a show today:

#3 - St. Lawrence Seaway / Canadian-American Friendship
(I'm not sure if this is the thick/thin flan - the links posted above do not work any longer. This medal weighs 12.5g, is 30.5mm in diameter and just over 3mm thick. Would love to know the mintage of this item - I think I saw here it was 3,700 for thin and 2,200 for thick?)



#18 - Pocahontas / John Rolfe
(From the site linked above, mintage of only 8,000.)