BODIN

Initially Warren G. Harding was looking forward to a festive inauguration as it was in years past, however, having ran on ridicule of the Wilson Administration's extravagance and excess, added to that the rationing of a war time era, party leaders advised him to abandon the inaugural festival.

.....Long story short :

Darrell Crane had designed a medal that the R. Harris Company struck on gold to be given to the President and Vice President(as was tradition).

The R. Harris Company then privately, and unofficially struck pieces on bronze made to order.

This is why there is no OFFICIAL Harding Medal and why about 60 of these medals are known to exist today.

Another more affordable substitute in the Presidential Inaugural Medals series is the Harding medal design that was used for the Keller Mechanical Engraving Company (KME). It was struck on a token for their 25 year anniversary. There are no numbers known as to the rarity of this piece, but it is quite hard to find.

Long ago I photographed the gold Coolidge medal along with other pieces in the personal collection of John Coolidge for collector Dr. Darrell C.Crain, Jr. (his father had designed the medal). I think one of the two gold medals is in the George Washington University Presidential Inaugural Collection.

What?!??

WOW!!

Can you post them?!??

When comparing side by side, you can see why inaugural medal collectors are happy to use the "Union League" medal to fill the Coolidge hole.

I used Bill's nice medal for comparison.

*I wish I owned the real Coolidge Inaugural medal, but I do not. The medal below sold at auction recently.

I really like that McKinley piece. The ribbon around the wreath with the states names is a really cool effect. How big is this piece?

 

Why does the book you mention start in 1889? Was nothing done for inaugurations before that? That seems like a rather arbitrary starting point, but there must be a reason.

I too LOVE the Mckinley. The size of the medal is 44mm, I don't remember how long the ribbon is.

The 1889 inauguration of Benjamin Harrison was the first time the inaugural committee made a medal for distribution celebrating and commemoration the event in medal-form. In the case of Harrison, Cleveland, and McKinley, the medals were struck only for members of the inaugural committee to wear at the festivities. The ribbon was labeled as to the committee you were a part of. For instance, Bill's Cleveland medal says PUBLIC COMFORT.

These are a list of the committees for the 1897 Inauguration along with how many members/medals were distributed.

As you can see, some of the committee ribbons are impossibly rare, if they even still exist.

The first medal that was offered for sale to the general public and not just to committee members was the 1929 Hoover medal. 1,012 were ordered made and all were sold.

Bill, I always love seeing the inaugural medals in your collection. You've chosen some fine pieces. As I recall, you only have medals of presidents that you like, so if you decide to do the whole series, I'll fill in the gaps when/if you need me to. I'm looking forward to seeing some beauties!

Rough pics just for now. The obverse was harder to photograph.

1936 S Cincinnati NGC MS64

Purdy San Diego! Your images are slightly out of focus though.

I'm still a beginner, and of about a hundred photos of little adjustments and trying out different bounces....... This coin was so hard to capture all the color with no shadow, this was my best pic. It is in focus on the devices but Minerva is slightly fuzzy, especially when you shrink her down for this posting. Thanks for looking. -Charlie

1936 D MS66 CAC -

This is my first (and probably only) trime. It was just a great deal and not great pictures. Don't you love when you see potential in bad photographs?

Any recommendations for Kennedy's or Ike's?