Not sure when the US Mint started this program but they are still doing it. I bought this from a friend a number of years ago for under $4.00 a medal. I added the last 5 of them and stopped with Bill Clinton. I have 10 more holes to fill but it’s not going to happen. I paid $6.00 each from the Mint but they raised the price to $20.00 each. I feel the price is just to high and not worth it. It’s only 1 ounce of copper so I’m done with them. Here’s the album with the first 41 President’s and The White House. Each president has their name and the years they served as President.
Martin Van Buren looks like he is toning nicely. I don't think I'd be able to leave the set unfinished. My OCD would kill me!
The mint is still selling medals for this album. Now they are doing a medal for each term a president served, which they didn't used to do. That means that there are two George W. Bush medals and two Obama medals.
A number of them are toning and it’s a pleasing toned coloring. Woodrow Wilson has three carbon spots. Martin Van Buren is probably the nicest of the ones that are toning.
The $20 price is ridiculous. I don’t know if they are still selling older ones, but if they are, a number need to be refurbished. The dies are lacking a lot of detail. In the old days, they were priced at $1, so it didn’t matter. They were once marketed to young collectors, but that price, they can only be marketed to old collectors with more money than brains. You are better of collecting the presidential dollar series.
Those appear to be from re-worked dies that yield decent strikes. They are not the same as the medals in the album shown above. Those designs were from presidential and Indian peace medals.
Yes it is and I refuse to pay it. Maybe I run into them at a reasonable price in the future somewhere but not sure if I’ll buy them or not if I do.
I had infinite patience and could put up with all the guff you get in auctions, I would collect the 19th century "mahogany finish" medals, which are the source for these small metals. Here is an example. Small medal in the album for Benjamin Harrison. Full sized version with mahogany finish.
