by Dave Provost

One of the most exciting things about collecting U.S. commemorative medals is the fact that unlike U.S. coins, the majority of medals issued never make it into some sort of organized catalogue or listing. Thus, it is a fairly common occurrence for me to sit down at a dealer’s table at a coin show, flip through his books of miscellaneous tokens and medals, and come across a very interesting piece that I have never seen or been aware of before. I enjoyed the pleasure of such an event at the recent NCNA show in Greensboro, NC.

Back in 1963, Congress authorized a national commemorative medal for Indiana’s 150^th anniversary of statehood to be celebrated in 1966. The legislation was sponsored by the Indiana Sesquicentennial Commission, and authorized the U.S. Mint to strike up to 100,000 medals. The Mint, however, never struck the medals.

In 1966, the Commission announced that its commemorative medals were to be struck by the Medallic Art Company. The obverse of the medal features a circa 1816 log cabin in the foreground with office and industrial buildings representative of 1966 in the background. The reverse presents the official Seal of the State of Indiana. The medal was designed by Warner Williams.

The Commission offered the high-relief medal in both silver and bronze, and in both large (2-1/2 inch) and small (1-1/2 inch) sizes. Prices were $25.00 and $10.00 for the large and small silver pieces, respectively, and $4.00 and $1.00 for the respective bronze medals. It took me more than a year to find nice examples of the four medals, but thanks to copies of The Numismatist from 1966, at least I knew what I was looking for. While searching, I also came across several low-relief medals that commemorated Indiana’s sesquicentennial, but never any other high-relief pieces.

That changed, however, when I came across a new piece at the NCNA show. While going through a binder of mixed medals and tokens, I spotted a small, high-relief bronze medal with the Indiana Seal and figured it to be one of the official sesquicentennial pieces. Much to my surprise, however, I discovered a very different obverse when I flipped the piece over! The medal touted a dual commemorative purpose — the 150^th anniversary of the State of Indiana and the 50^th anniversary of the Indianapolis 500.

In keeping with the design theme of the official statehood medal, the piece features a "now and then" theme. Presented are the original grandstand and a race car from the days when the Indianapolis Speedway first opened, as well as the same two elements from the mid-1960s.

As of yet, I haven’t found any detailed information on the piece — but someday I will! And who knows what the search may turn up!

Until next month, Happy Collecting!

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