Calendar says inaugural medals

Before coming to work this morning, I had to shovel the sidewalk.

Iola, Wis., had its first dusting of snow for the season. Fortunately for me, the inch or so that fell was fairly easy to clean away, otherwise I might be feeling the effects in muscles that I seem only to use during the winter months.

It is nice to know some things don’t change despite the upheaval in the world economy and financial markets. The day still has 24 hours and there is still a winter season in Iola that begins as it is this week with deer hunting season and the woods are full of hunters wearing blaze orange during the day and spending money in the restaurants and taverns at night.

Another thing that has become traditional is the issuance of inaugural medals when a President is sworn in. All advance indications are that the inaugural ceremony itself on Jan. 20, 2009, is going to attract millions more people than usual. That likely means larger numbers of purchasers of inaugural medals than usual.

Sales information usually becomes available around the beginning of the new year, just in time to be available for a Numismatic News issue with a Jan. 20 cover date.

While I have one or two inaugural medals in my collection, I do not consider myself a collector of them. In fact, one of them I received as a gift years ago from Chet Krause who thought I would appreciate it more than he did.

Will you be a buyer when the medals become available? Let me know. Post your comments below.