Tradition on Hold!

By David W. Boitnott

December is here and we should be focussing on Christmas with the last month's Presidential election rapidly fading in our collective memories. But, as I write this the Supreme Court of the United States is hearing oral arguments in the latest round of legal actions in what the media terms "the battle for the White House." Some worry whether we're heading for a Constitutional crisis; however, my main concern is a numismatic one - who will be on the next official inaugural medal and when will it be available?

The century old tradition of issuing an official presidential inaugural medal dates back to the 1901 inauguration of William McKinley. This was the first year that medals were issued by the President's inaugural committee for distribution to dignitaries at the inauguration. At the previous four inaugurals badges similar to military decorations were given to and used by officials during the inauguration and thus the quantity made was limited to just a few hundred at most. The McKinley medal is generally regarded as the first because it was not attached to any kind of ribbon and enjoyed much wider distribution. It was 44mm in diameter and struck in gold, silver and bronze. There were only two gold struck, fifty-five silver and about four thousand of the bronze.

The collecting of these historical medals can be divided in to two categories. The first, for the serious collector, is the first half of the century and the second, for the casual collector or collector of more modest means, is the second half of the century. Silver medal mintages during the early period were typically in single digits so we will mainly be discussing the bronze examples of each issue. Also, mintages for the bronze medals during the first half are generally quite low as the medals were never marketed to the general public and to get one, one would have to be "known" to the committee. Even some of the bronzes from this era when seen sell for thousands of dollars.

A brief recap of the early period starts with the 1901 McKinley detailed earlier. For reference a bronze example of this medal recently sold for around three-hundred dollars on eBay. Next, Teddy Roosevelt's inauguration in 1905 produced two official inaugural medals. The first was stuck by the Davidson Company and had a mintage of 3,000. The second was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens at President-elect Roosevelt's personal request. Tiffany & Company cast 125 examples, which now easily sell in the neighborhood of 10-thousand dollars when they appear at auction. The official inaugural medals from the next two elections - 1909,William Howard Taft (3,000 bronze) and 1913, Woodrow Wilson (3,000 bronze) are seen on the market from time to time and are usually priced in alignment with McKinley medal.

With the United States covered in the growing war cloud of WWI the Wilson administration played down the 1917 inaugural and as such less than 300 medals were struck. Our next two Presidents Warren Harding (1921) and Calvin Coolidge (1925) chose not to authorize official medals; however, their inaugural committees did order medals struck in gold for presentation to the President-elect and Vice President-elect. They also struck a very small number of silver examples for committee heads and a limit number of bronze examples for the committee members. There were less than sixty bronze examples struck of the Harding medal and seventy-five for Coolidge. It should be quite evident that these medals are very elusive to the collector. They set new price records every time they appear at auction so if you want to be a player you'll have to dig deep into your wallet and bid strong!

The mintage figures reach 1,012 bronze examples for the Herbert Hoover official inaugural medal in 1929. A stock market crash, the deepest depression this country has ever seen, and a world on the verge of another world war greeted a new President in 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt stepped up to meet that challenge and would be elected President for four consecutive terms giving us four inaugural medals to collect. Bronze examples were minted in quantities of 1500 for 1933, 1,006 for 1937 and 3,000 in two varieties in 1941. The central design element on the reverse of the 1941 medal was a wreath open at the top. Originally 1,000 medals were struck; however, another 2,000 were struck later with the edition of the numeral "2" placed at the opening of the wreath. Hey, commemorative fans I wonder where they got that idea! Mintage figures for the bronze version of his 1945 inaugural medal reached 3,500 but even it remains pricey. The United States Mint struck all the Roosevelt official inaugural medals. Well almost all there were 50 of the 1933 medals struck by the Medallic Art Company (MACO) that command major premiums today.

Harry S. Truman became President in 1945 after the death of President Roosevelt. The second category of official inaugural medals starts with his 1949 inauguration after another famous close vote in our history. We have all seen the famous photograph of President Truman holding up the Chicago newspaper with the banner headline "Dewey Wins!" The second category of medals are characterized by their having been minted in larger quantities and marketed to the general public thus making them more plentiful and affordable on the secondary market. The Truman medal, the last to be struck at the United States Mint, suffers from finishing problems, which drives the price up for nice examples. The public marketing resulted in a bronze mintage of 7,500.

Dwight David Eisenhower was inaugurated for his first term in 1953. The official medal struck for the occasion had a mintage of 25,685 in bronze and 788 in silver. This was only the second silver inaugural medal with a mintage greater than 10 (McKinley in 1901 had 55) and is the first one truly collectable to the average collector. This was the first of many official inaugural medals struck by the Medallic Art Company (MACO). Four years later in honor of Ike's second inauguration 21,705 bronze and 1,033 silver medals were struck by MACO.

After another close race often sited during the coverage of today's election proceedings, John F. Kennedy defeated then Vice-President Richard M. Nixon. The public interest in the close race and the man himself result in an explosion of demand for the official inaugural medal as well as a myriad of pretenders. A total of 53,331 bronze and 7,500 silver examples were struck. Don't be fooled by the high mintages as even today demand is such to keep the prices high. The Kennedy medal along with his successor Lyndon B. Johnson's were struck by MACO. Johnson's 1965 inaugural medal was struck in quantities of 26,275 bronze and 7,695 silver. Today one can occasionally find silver examples priced at melt.

In 1969, Richard M. Nixon rebounding from defeat in 1960 was inaugurated President of the United States. MACO produced 78,529 large bronze and 15,000 silver official inaugural medals for the event. This issue marked the beginning of full marketing of the medals. They were offered two sizes of bronze and different packaging types. But as the song goes "you ain't seen nothing yet" because in 1973 the Franklin Mint won (some say bought) the contract to produce the official medal. They produced 56,574 antique bronze, 49,789 proof bronze, 6,860 antique silver, 16,302 proof silver, and countless plated, smaller, and mounted varieties. They even produced a silver plate. I can't figure out whether to use mine for soup or cereal!

Nixon's resignation in 1974 elevated Gerald R. Ford to the Presidency. Although not elected to the office a special committee was formed and an official inaugural medal was approved and ordered struck by MACO. During his administration President Ford signed into law legislation that removed the prohibition of private gold ownership. In honor of this occasion MACO struck 1,551 32mm proof gold inaugural medals in addition to the 13,664 bronze, 3,247 proof silver and 2,233 antique silver medals struck earlier. This marked the first opportunity for Americans to purchase a gold example of a Presidential inaugural medal. Ford lost his bid to be elected in 1976 and in 1977 Jimmy Carter celebrated his inauguration with a medal produced by the Franklin Mint. In true Franklin Mint fashion variety was the rule and mintages plentiful making for a weak secondary market.

In 1981 Ronald Reagan was inaugurated to his first term as President. MACO was back as the mint of choice for the official medal. This medal like all those that follow have significant mintages that keep the secondary market price of the bronze medals reasonable. The silver, however were sold for such high prices originally that they are seldom seen on the secondary market because most original buyers choose to hold on rather than take the major loss involved in selling. Reagan's second inaugural medal celebrating his 1985 inauguration continues the tradition that started with the Eisenhower medal of 1957 of including the Vice-President with the President on the second term medal.

George Bush got his own official inaugural medal in 1989. Struck by MACO it breaks with the traditional design motif of portraying the President in business attire. The medal depicts the President in the cockpit of an airplane, a reference to military service as a fighter pilot in the Pacific during WWII. As you are aware President Bush lost his bid for reelection in 1992.

Inaugurated in 1993 Bill Clinton chose the relatively unheard of firm of the Hoffman & Hoffman of Carmel, California to produce his official inaugural medal. Reelected in 1996 Clinton's second inaugural medal includes a likeness of Al Gore and was produced by MACO. MACO in its advertisements lays claim to producing the official inaugural medals of nine presidents, working backwards - Clinton (2nd term), Bush, Reagan (both terms), Ford, Nixon (1st term), Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower (both terms), and let's not forget those 50 medals for Roosevelt in 1933.