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<p>[QUOTE="CoinCorgi, post: 24696020, member: 88934"]<b>Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary National Commemorative Medal of the United States</b></p><p><br /></p><p>A bit of history in a medal.</p><p><br /></p><p>Over the past few years, I have been on a “mission” to visit all 21 of the Spanish Missions in California. As of August 2023, I have visited 13 of the 21. Here are pictures of my favorites so far (in terms of architecture, preservation, museum quality, etc.).</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><i>Mission San Diego de Alcala</i> (San Diego, CA):</p> <p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576390[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Mission San Antonio de Padua</i> (Jolon, CA):</p> <p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576391[/ATTACH]</p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p> <p style="text-align: center"><i>Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad</i> (Soledad, CA):</p> <p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576392[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Several of the missions had the<i> <u>Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary National Commemorative Medal</u></i> on display in their museums. Having lived here in California for 35 years I can’t help but to have heard of Padre Junipero Serra and the California Missions. I had not, however, heard of or seen this medal before. I also did not know much at all about the National Commemorative Medals that the U.S. Mint has produced over the years (there are a lot!).</p><p><br /></p><p><b>National Commemorative Medals</b></p><p><br /></p><p>From PCGS:</p><blockquote><p><br /></p><p>Commemorative medals released by the U.S. Mint were not meant for circulation but serve the same purpose as the circulating commemorative issues. The National commemorative medals are approved by a vote of Congress. The bill is then signed by the U.S. President. In many cases, the Mint was authorized to produce large numbers of these issues. However, the actual mintages of some are much lower, resulting in many issues being quite rare.</p><p><br /></p><p>The National commemorative medals were originally catalogued by Howard L. Turner. A more recent and comprehensive catalogue has been published by John T. Dean in his book, the <i>National Commemorative Medals of the United States Mint.</i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>The following is a copy of the law that was passed by congress and signed into law by President Kennedy in October 1963:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576394[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>As you can see, the law authorizes the U.S. Mint to issue medals “of such size or sizes and of such metals as shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury”. Also, the cost was paid for by the “Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary Association”, and no medals were to be made after Dec. 31, 1964.</p><p><br /></p><p>I contacted John T. Dean to see about purchasing one of the medals and he was able to send me the following page from his book along with a note.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576395[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Note from John T. Dean in an email to me in August 2023:</p><blockquote><p><br /></p><p><i>I have included a page from my book providing the information you had requested.</i></p><p><i>I had one gentleman contact me that owned one of the Platinum pieces, but he would not sell it to me. The gold ones were struck, but I have not seen either a gold or platinum sell.</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>Regards,</i></p><p><i>John Dean</i></p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p>It turns out that 25 platinum, 5 gold, 10K silver and 82K bronze medals were minted. The designer was Frank Gasparro (designer of the Kennedy Half Dollar).</p><p><br /></p><p>I am still researching how they were sold/packaged and am trying to get a clear copy of the documentation that was included with the medals. Below is the clearest copy I have found so far that indicates that the medals were all struck at the Philadelphia Mint between March and December 31, 1964.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576396[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>I also have this image of other documents that I took while visiting the <i>Mission San Diego de Alcala</i>, which contains partial views of the text. It also shows that some medals have been encased in lucite.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1576397[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>The documents state that the reverse shows California with its first ten missions. I find this odd because Junipero Serra only founded the first nine missions in California. The 10th mission shown is <i>Mission Santa Barbara</i>, which was founded by Padre Fermin Lasuen in 1786, 2 years after Serra’s death.</p><p><br /></p><p>TPG (i.e., ANACS, PCGS, NGC) treatment of the medal varies in terms of the date they put on their labels. Also, it is not clear if there were any proofs struck or if some specimens are just proof-like. Some slabs I’ve seen show the date as 1963, some as 1964, some as proof and some as proof-like. A mystery at this point!</p><p><b><br /></b></p><p><b>Personal Collection</b></p><p><br /></p><p>I was able to purchase this silver medal off the internet and currently have a bronze medal on order from Mr. Dean.</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH]1576398[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1576399[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">Weight: 19.87g; Diameter: 34mm; Edge: Plain; Turn: Medal</p><p><br /></p><p>For reference, from PCGS:</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center">[ATTACH=full]1576400[/ATTACH]</p><p>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="CoinCorgi, post: 24696020, member: 88934"][B]Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary National Commemorative Medal of the United States[/B] A bit of history in a medal. Over the past few years, I have been on a “mission” to visit all 21 of the Spanish Missions in California. As of August 2023, I have visited 13 of the 21. Here are pictures of my favorites so far (in terms of architecture, preservation, museum quality, etc.). [CENTER][I]Mission San Diego de Alcala[/I] (San Diego, CA): [ATTACH=full]1576390[/ATTACH] [I]Mission San Antonio de Padua[/I] (Jolon, CA): [ATTACH=full]1576391[/ATTACH] [I]Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad[/I] (Soledad, CA): [ATTACH=full]1576392[/ATTACH][/CENTER] Several of the missions had the[I] [U]Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary National Commemorative Medal[/U][/I] on display in their museums. Having lived here in California for 35 years I can’t help but to have heard of Padre Junipero Serra and the California Missions. I had not, however, heard of or seen this medal before. I also did not know much at all about the National Commemorative Medals that the U.S. Mint has produced over the years (there are a lot!). [B]National Commemorative Medals[/B] From PCGS: [INDENT] Commemorative medals released by the U.S. Mint were not meant for circulation but serve the same purpose as the circulating commemorative issues. The National commemorative medals are approved by a vote of Congress. The bill is then signed by the U.S. President. In many cases, the Mint was authorized to produce large numbers of these issues. However, the actual mintages of some are much lower, resulting in many issues being quite rare. The National commemorative medals were originally catalogued by Howard L. Turner. A more recent and comprehensive catalogue has been published by John T. Dean in his book, the [I]National Commemorative Medals of the United States Mint.[/I][/INDENT] The following is a copy of the law that was passed by congress and signed into law by President Kennedy in October 1963: [CENTER][ATTACH=full]1576394[/ATTACH][/CENTER] As you can see, the law authorizes the U.S. Mint to issue medals “of such size or sizes and of such metals as shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury”. Also, the cost was paid for by the “Padre Junipero Serra 250th Anniversary Association”, and no medals were to be made after Dec. 31, 1964. I contacted John T. Dean to see about purchasing one of the medals and he was able to send me the following page from his book along with a note. [CENTER][ATTACH=full]1576395[/ATTACH][/CENTER] Note from John T. Dean in an email to me in August 2023: [INDENT] [I]I have included a page from my book providing the information you had requested. I had one gentleman contact me that owned one of the Platinum pieces, but he would not sell it to me. The gold ones were struck, but I have not seen either a gold or platinum sell. Regards, John Dean[/I][/INDENT] It turns out that 25 platinum, 5 gold, 10K silver and 82K bronze medals were minted. The designer was Frank Gasparro (designer of the Kennedy Half Dollar). I am still researching how they were sold/packaged and am trying to get a clear copy of the documentation that was included with the medals. Below is the clearest copy I have found so far that indicates that the medals were all struck at the Philadelphia Mint between March and December 31, 1964. [CENTER][ATTACH=full]1576396[/ATTACH][/CENTER] I also have this image of other documents that I took while visiting the [I]Mission San Diego de Alcala[/I], which contains partial views of the text. It also shows that some medals have been encased in lucite. [ATTACH=full]1576397[/ATTACH] The documents state that the reverse shows California with its first ten missions. I find this odd because Junipero Serra only founded the first nine missions in California. The 10th mission shown is [I]Mission Santa Barbara[/I], which was founded by Padre Fermin Lasuen in 1786, 2 years after Serra’s death. TPG (i.e., ANACS, PCGS, NGC) treatment of the medal varies in terms of the date they put on their labels. Also, it is not clear if there were any proofs struck or if some specimens are just proof-like. Some slabs I’ve seen show the date as 1963, some as 1964, some as proof and some as proof-like. A mystery at this point! [B] Personal Collection[/B] I was able to purchase this silver medal off the internet and currently have a bronze medal on order from Mr. Dean. [CENTER][ATTACH]1576398[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]1576399[/ATTACH][/CENTER] [CENTER]Weight: 19.87g; Diameter: 34mm; Edge: Plain; Turn: Medal[/CENTER] For reference, from PCGS: [CENTER][ATTACH=full]1576400[/ATTACH][/CENTER][/QUOTE]
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