Don’t skip medals on redesigned Mint website

I was looking around the Mint’s redesigned website this morning.

Take a look at it. It is worth a visit.

Naturally, I wanted to be able to find the areas that I need to look at regularly.

It is also interesting to look at Mint issues that I have seen before, but with new eyes.

I spent a little time on the military medals.

As a group, they are impressive. Coin collectors often say that they don’t think modern coins have good designs.

They spend their money buying reissued old coin designs in different metals.

If you feel uninspired by current coin designs, take a look at these military medals.

My morning look at the 31 Code Talkers designs impressed me.

They are outstanding.

Naturally, I like some better than others, but I think as a group they truly are inspiring.

My thoughts gravitated first to tribes that I am most familiar with from Wisconsin.

But the full set of 31 is a compelling national Native American narrative.

The valor of those who went to fight in the world wars is deservedly honored.

The medals truly are an education.

Collectors might want to buy a whole set.

For the 1.5-inch diameter bronze medals, the price is $6.95 each.

These medals are Morgan dollar-sized.

All 31 would cost $215.45 plus shipping.

The three-inch bronze medals are $39.95 each. A full set would cost $1,238.45 plus shipping.

A full set might not be in your budget, so consider cherry-picking your favorite designs.

Buy one or buy a half dozen, I guarantee that you will get your money’s worth by what you will learn by thinking about each medal, each tribe and the soldiers they represent.

Code Talkers could speak with each other rapidly using their own languages and the enemy could not understand what they were saying.

Their performance in the heat of battle was of untold advantage to our forces.

Remember them. Take a look at these medals.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."

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