Commemorative Art Medal Series
America’s gold American Arts Medals reveal how marketing missteps, missing denominations, and collector perception can shape the success or failure of modern bullion programs.
What denomination should be assigned to the gold Commemorative Art Medal series?
Many commemoratives are issued with a nominal denomination on them to make them coins in the eyes of collectors, not because they are spendable money. The 1980 to 1984 half-ounce and one-ounce gold American Arts Commemorative Series Medallions are a classic example of this—actually of what not to do. The medals failed to sell in part because they were medals rather than coins. Had the series been assigned a denomination, it is likely it would have performed better.
You said, “in part.” Were there other problems with the Commemorative Art Medal series?
Medal purchasers went through a cumbersome ordering process that discouraged many potential purchasers. Distribution was eventually turned over to J. Aron & Company, which had some better success at marketing them. The medals don’t identify the issuing authority on the earliest issues, don’t identify their gold content on any of them, and don’t identify any legal tender status. This was a recipe for a marketing disaster.
Why was the Commemorative Arts Medal program introduced?
Executive Order 11825, dated Dec. 31, 1974, made it possible for private citizens to own gold coins and bullion for the first time since 1933. In 1975, the Treasury Department began selling its gold; however, the gold was being sold in the form of 400 troy ounce ingots. Americans wanting to own gold avoided the prohibitive price tag on these ingots by buying foreign gold coins, especially the South African Krugerrand. The Commemorative Art Medal series was Congress’s awkward answer to this competition.
For once, did the government learn from this mistake?
The 1979 introduction of the Susan B. Anthony dollar, easily confused with our quarter, shows that the government doesn’t learn easily from its mistakes. This was a repeat of the 20-cent coinage fiasco of the 1870s. The American Arts Gold Medallions Program was, however, the forerunner for our current gold programs, commencing with the 1984 legal tender $10 gold Olympic commemoratives.
Do we know how many of the American Arts Gold Medals were melted?
The number of these medals minted, and the number unsold and melted by the government, can be found online. The highest mintage medal was the 1983 Robert Frost, while the highest number melted by the government was that of the 1983 Alexander Calder issue. The 1982 Louis Armstrong issue had the highest sales, while the lowest sales were achieved by the 1984 medals on which Helen Hayes appears.
Is there a premium on any of the American Arts Gold Medals?
Coin dealers have made a market in these medals based on the conditions assigned to them by third-party authentication services. Values appear to be based more on condition than on mintage, melt figures, or availability. The Alexander Calder issue reportedly has the lowest survival rate, but this can’t be proven since no reliable figures on the numbers melted privately are available. J. Aron reportedly melted 10,000 Mark Twain medals for scrap value in 1984.
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