Inaugural medal set to be put in Trump’s hands

There will be inaugural medals after all.

Today a gold version is supposed to be presented to President Donald Trump, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

It was produced by Medalcraft, Inc., of Green Bay, Wis.

The firm found out it had been hired to do the job on Wednesday.

Fortunately the company, which is well known in collector circles, was ready. It had done preliminary work for both major presidential candidates.

When the public will get a chance to buy examples is still not known.

The newspaper article says 10,000 of mostly bronze examples will be offered by Medalcraft.

There had been collector worries that there would be no inaugural medals this time around.

I wrote a column for Numismatic News pointing out how sad this would be.

Fortunately, things changed.

There is a solid group of collectors of inaugural medals who will be pleased to be able to add examples to their collections.

There are also voters who want a memento of an historical election.

I have been asked about what is official and what isn’t.

There are many offers online of inaugural mementos created by private firms and labeled “coins” by them.

An official medal confers prestige and makes it part of a tradition that goes back more than a century.

Continuing tradition is a good thing.

I remember the 1980s when inaugural medals were front page news. Collectors were kept abreast of sittings with artists and availability of bronze, silver and gold versions.

That did not happen this time.

Still, it is not too late.

Perhaps that will be a topic for a blog for next week.

In the end, Medalcraft might have to increase its production run.

I hope so.

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

• Like this blog? Read more by subscribing to Numismatic News.