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TheHawaiianaNumismatist

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Journal Entries posted by TheHawaiianaNumismatist

  1. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    My mindset is in the land of Aloha...sort of
    My birthplace is Honolulu, Hawaii. I grew-up on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii (aka Big Island). My career keeps me on the continental US, but I often have vacation trips back "home". In all my trips, I allocate a period of time in which I pursue my Hawaiiana collectable hunts. From coins to documents.
    I have been advocating the concept to read as much as you can about a coin or coin type, as a mater of fact, anything that is of collectable interest to you. But,on occasions you have to go with your gut feeling...
    The attached article is about a gut feeling purchase I had. In the end, I donated this item to the Iolani Palace as they did not have an example...It feels good to donate a historical piece in which it can be admired by many. I donated the item in 2010.
    My article was printed in a newsletter published by the Hawaii State Society of Washington DC.

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  2. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    An excellent token catalog website to contribute, learn from or use as reference ...
    I was web surfing a few weeks ago for online Hawaii token references and found a token catalog website. I booked marked the website for future exploration. Tokens at the website are listed by state. The website also lists tokens by country.
    How I used it for a reference....In the September 2012 issue of The Numismatist, page 42, article on Hawaii's Railroad Tokens, has a photograph on 1 of 3 known examples of the Kahului Railroad Co. 25c token. The website displays 3 other values in MS condition...
    Main website
    http://tokencatalog.com/index.php
    tiny url to 15c token
    http://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/9hbkx5r
    tiny url to 20c token
    http://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/9auhzw5
    tiny url to 35c token
    http://outside-affiliatelinksnotallowed.com/924gesg
    Kahului Railroad Co. Kalakaua blueprint below was issued in conjunction with the book, Sugar Trains Pictorial, and hangs framed in my home office.

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  3. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    This is related to Hawaii !!!
    NOTE: You can tell the writing style difference of an author's journal entry  by the subject matter. On one hand you get regurgitation of previously documented information or what one owns. It's OK, but not exciting or groundbreaking. On the other hand you get thought provoking or I did not know this with a dumbfoundedness result. I hope I'm in the later category.
    Bernard von NotHaus was one of the co-founders of The Hawaiian Mint, which evolved into the Royal Hawaiian Mint, and he got into a heap of trouble with the US Government with his National Organization For the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act (NORFED) coinage and currency.
    As a Hawaiiana numismatist, I must cover all numismatic aspects related to the Hawaiian Islands. The original NORFED Liberty dollars is such a coin. It's listed in World Price Guide at the NGC website:
    https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/united-states-10-liberty-dollars-x-201-1998-cuid-1075971-duid-1633923
    Waifs in Gold Boots, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, was created by the Royal Hawaiian Mint to document their issues. This spreadsheet was in the public domain at one point. Anyway, listed in this spreadsheet are three design elements that tell the story of the 1998 NORFED Libery dollar.

    This is a must have reference for Hawaiiana numismatist. Note the mintage (column J) and other key numismatic information!
    The image below is a visual of my original research finding. (I used a silver specimen of the 1975 Kamehameha issue with the "EARTH" design)

    As you can plainly see, the incorporation of design elements to form the original 1998 NORFED Liberty dollar came from previous issues of the The Hawaiian Mint/Royal Hawaiian Mint.
    This research would make a splendid exhibit, along with the controversy of this first 1998 NORFED issue.
    I was in a state of dumbfoundedness when I first discovered this and the first to document this find in my personal blog a few years ago.
    Finally, the mintage of the 1998 Liberty Dollar X# 201 is 150 specimens (which is not documented anywhere , except in  Waifs in Gold Boots).
     
  4. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    This is not a Hawaii related entry.
    The images of two pages below are from the US Mint (as you can see, Frank Gasparro has signed and dated the upper right on the first page).
    Item 1 and 2 in the document - Calls out US Mint's Presidential inaugural medal design (obverse and reverse) are to be used on the proposed half dollar.
              Note: For proper visualization, I added a image of the reverse in this blog. The presidential seal is in a reduced state.
    Item 3 in the document - Frank Gasparro indicates he has previous experience with implementing the reverse design (presidential seal)
    Item 4 in the document (2nd page) - Explains his many experiences and techniques he implemented in the reverse design.
    Conclusion: There was no way that the US Mint's Presidential inaugural medal design was the primary source for the reverse design of the Kennedy half dollar (as many half dollar collectors believe). Frank Gasparro indicated that "This seal was the culmination of many experiences with the study and execution of the American eagle in medallic work", which means he worked on the presidential seal before as a primary design element. It just happens that the Class 5 Kennedy POTUS sGm has a large presidential seal with the placement of his "FG" initials similarly located (under the right leg of the eagle) on both the Class 5 Kennedy POTUS sGm and Kennedy half dollar. 
    And just to bring out another point, the US Mint's President Johnson inaugural medal design features another presidential seal by Frank Gasparro (this time his "FG" initials is above the right leg of the eagle).






  5. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Day 72 and counting...
    I'm not complaining or wish any ill will on anyone on the NCS and NGC staff...
    On November 8, 2012 NCS received 4 medals on invoice 5413920.
    Medals were conserved and shipped to NGC.
    On December 5, 2012, NGC declared the medals as ineligible type.
    An email was sent to NGC asking for the reason why the ineligible status was assigned.
    December 10, 2012, NGC replied indicated it was an error for declaring the items as ineligible. I was told that the medals were shipped back to me and I must resubmit when received.
    I received the medals from NGC.
    To save on shipping costs. I combine the returned medals with additional medals on a new invoice. (I also requested reimbursement for the original shipping cost for the mix-up).
    On December 26, 2012 the medals were received by NGC.
    On January 23, 2013 the status of invoice 2782013 was updated to Scheduled for Grading.
    A perspective: Original submittal was sent prior to 2012 Election Day (November 6, 2012). 2013 Inauguration Day (January 21, 2013) has come and passed. I predicting that I will have my medals back someday...Groundhog Day? Super Bowl Sunday? Mardi Gras? Valentine's Day? Or maybe President's Day?
    Day 72 and counting...

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  6. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Day 85 and counting ...
    My previous update on this topic was made on day 72 (read my earlier journal entry titled: "Patience is a good thing").
    Another 13 days have since passed.
    Once again, the saga of my three raw medals on the path to "certificationhood" continues.
    I believed (and hoped) that this saga would have ended today. I picked up my registered mail (from NGC) at the US Post Office and inspected its contents.
    The three medals (along with twelve others) made the trip back home safely. Each was graded and encapsulated. Certification was achieved. The grading outcome was acceptable and near my expected grade.
    After inspecting the original three medals (from the original "certificationhood" saga), I became destitute. To my disbelief a very simple mistake was made on the label. I'm not sure how it happened, but it is there. A simple typographical error.
    Unfortunately, each of the three original medals were mislabeled with the wrong year. Yes, the year. I checked my original invoice and the year was correctly provided. The year on the label is a mistake and I was not the source of this mistake. (My finger is being pointed and it's not in my direction.)
    The three original medals were to populate my Pearl Harbor medal collection. If you know your American history, one would know that Pearl Harbor was attacked in the year 1941 and not 1949. The label has a year of 1949.
    I can understand the mistake, but it you look at your computer keyboard. There are 7 keys between the number 1 and the number 9.
    To add insult to injury, three other medals (of the same type) also bear the incorrect year of 1949.
    I can say one positive thing. At least there is consistency with the error and the other nine medal labels are not affected by a mild form of numerical dyslexia.
    I have now a total of six mislabeled NGC graded and encapsulated medals.
    I have contacted NGC and demanded corrective action to resolve this problem.
    Day 85 and counting...or was that 58 (just kidding)
    Below is an image of the incorrect label.

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  7. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Plate coins are superb examples of the coin type
    Coins of rarity are photographed and were included in the plates of a book as a reference. Hence the term "plate coin". Today, coin photographs are still used in numismatic references (books periodicals, websites, etc...).
    I was pleasantly surprised to make the visual connection between a former coin of mine (Kingdom of Hawaii quarter dollar NGC MS66). I sold it for a tidy profit. The photograph used by NGC at its NGC Coin Explorer for the Hawaii coin series (specifically, the Kingdom of Hawaii) is one in the same used on the Photo Proof. I had two Photo Proofs made and kept one.
    Here is the link...at the bottom of this journal entry is Photo Proof.
    http://www.ngccoin.com/NGCCoinExplorer/SubCategory.aspx?SubCatID=82&PopSubCat=Hawaii
     
    Look at King Kalakaua eyes, mint luster, toning, nicks, etc...each match in position.
    If I knew NGC was going to use it as a plate coin ... I might have kept it.....

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  8. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    I would be really impressed if it's included in the book's update!
    I've initiated discussion (at a So Called Dollar (SCD) discussion website) about the inclusion of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Appreciation Medals in the update to the Hibler-Kappen book.
     
     
     
    No previous references or documentation has been available on this entire medal series. I performed research on the Eisenhower appreciation medals and documented my research findings in a book that was released back in February 2014.
     
     
     
    In a nutshell, this US Mint medal series has been hidden from the public eye for over five decades. It really is an interesting story on how it was kept hidden; however I'm glad that I was fortunate to uncover this mysterious medal series.
     
     
     
    There are a total of 17 medals in this White House initiated medal series. 10 of the 17 medals should be considered for SCD classification. The medals were struck to commemorate President Eisenhower's trip to: South America, Summit in Paris, Japan, Korea, Hawaii, Paris (another trip), and Portugal. Frank Gasparro created the designs.
     
     
     
    These medals were struck by the US Mint in Philadelphia ahead of his trips and have the distinction of being handed out by President Eisenhower himself or by his direction though his top military aide during the trip.
     
     
     
    The medals were also provided to individuals who were recognized by high ranking military officers or State Department officials in assisting with a specified leg of the President's visits.
     
     
     
    From the above stated trips, each medal was stuck in silver (same fineness, size, and weight as a Morgan or Peace silver dollar). The "Paris" medal was also struck in 18K gold with the same dies.
     
     
     
    That leaves 2 more medals to describe. The "June 1960" was a generic medal that was struck for President Eisenhower and replaced an initial order for "Alaska 1960", "Formosa 1960", and "Philippines 1960".
     
     
     
    The final medal is "Newport 1960" for Newport, Rhode Island, the location of President Eisenhower's Summer White House.
     
     
     
    I named this newly uncovered medal series, The Dwight D. Eisenhower Appreciation Medals. There are also 3 half-dollar size medals (used by President Eisenhower during 1958 - 1960) and 4 medallion size medals (used by President Eisenhower during the last few days of his 2nd term in office).
     
     
     
    One more thing, official mintage are known. As well as the number of medals destroyed just before President Eisenhower completed his 2nd term in office).
     
     
     
    Image below is an encapsulated/graded NGC specimen (plate medal in my book). Various reverse designs are also shown. DDE-XX numbers are the catalog numbers assigned from my book.

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  9. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Acquired from a collector in France.
    The DVD of my Money Talks presentation at the 2015 ANA World's Fair of Money is available for borrowing from the ANA Library. The first book that cataloged this "lost" presidential medal series is ISBN 1511786744.
    The image is a composite of a snippet of my ANA presentation slide (lower portion) and of my latest acquisition from a collector in France.
    It's a remarkable acquisition in that it supports my original research findings (in my book) in that President Eisenhower awarded his "appreciatory medal" in France from September 2 - 4, 1959.
    My acquisition is a three-piece set with: original presidential envelope, card from President Eisenhower, and the President Eisenhower Class 1 medal (DDE-C1-02). The first intact set to be located and identified.
    Surviving mintage is 436 specimens (after President Eisenhower's end of 2nd term destruction of unused medals). DDE-C1-02 was issued in the Federal Republic of Germany, United Kingdom, and France from August 26, 1959 through September 7, 1959.
    NGC has previously graded this type of medal (I have a NGC MS65 specimen).

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  10. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Only 30 of these fully struck uniface medals are documented to have been struck
    Notice the NII HAU spelling error...
    Notice the bright bronze surface (oxidized in later stage of production)...
    Notice the excessive outward flow of medal (trimmed in later stage of production)...

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  11. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Still waiting for a reply...
    To make a long story short:
    1. On 09/06/15 I asked about the grading and encapsulation of a silver Hawaiian medal. Two gold version were encapsulated by NGC and can be seen at the Ira & Larry Goldberg Sept. 7, 2009 auction.
     
    2. I provided supporting documentation from an ANA Periodical (June 1960) that the silver version and gold version were designed and manufactured by Precious Medals Hawaii (original designer amd manufacturer).
    3. This is the orginal NGC reply "Thanks for your question. At this time, NGC does not grade items minted by the Royal Hawaiian mint."
    4. My rebuttal (I recommend that every save a copy of messages exchanged with NGC):
    1) Medals shown are not a product of the Royal Hawaiian Mint. They are a product of Precious Medals Hawaii (PMH). PMH has no affiliation with the Royal Hawaiian Mint. The PMH hallmark can be plainly seen on the bottom reverse (on both the gold and silver medals)
    2) The 1980 American Numismatic Association clipping provides an accurate pedigree of the original manufacturer, Precious Medals Hawaii.
    3) Medals struck by Precious Medals Hawaii have been previously graded/encapsulated by NGC so these medal are not setting a precedence of being the first.
    4) As shown ( Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers catalog dated September 7, 2009), two Precious Medals Hawaii gold medals were graded/encapsulated by NGC.
    5) I perceive a preferential treatment toward large auction houses in getting "esoteric" type medals graded/encapsulated with my example of the Ira & Larry Goldberg Auctioneers catalog dated September 7, 2009. Is this true?
    6) NGC does grade several Royal Hawaiian Mint issues as identified by their Krause numbers as indicated in their book title Unusual World Coins. Was this recently changed?
    7) Several medals listed in the Medcalf & Russell book, Hawaiian Money Second Edition, are in fact Royal Hawaiian Mint issues. If not all items listed in the Medcalf & Russell book do not qualify to be graded/encapsulated, I recommend that you put a note on your webpage that states this fact.
    8) Was my original question actually forwarded to a grader that specializes with medals from Hawaii?
    9) As a non-paying NGC member (I'm using my ANA membership to get items encapsulated/graded), I would like items 1 through 7Should I contact the ANA to notify them that clarification from their perspective
    Today is 11/7/2015 and I have not seen a updated reply to me.

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  12. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    A pair of medals to remember the attack on Pearl Harbor...
    I picked both of these medals from an auction site dealing with WWII memorabilia. I was amazed that I actually found these medals at a non-numismatic auction. Listed as 2M-380 (copper, mintage 10,000) and 2M-381 (nickel, mintage 5,000) in Hawaiian Money, 2nd edition by Medcalf and Russell. The holed nickel medal is a filler at the moment. It's interesting that a Japanese Zero is the main design feature.
    The medals are also listed in Hawaiian Coins, Token and Paper Money by Gould and Bressett. This book indicates that these medals were sold throughout the US at 5c and 10c stores...
    I'm in search for an uncirculated nickel and sterling silver version. I have both versions of the copper (with and without text "Pat. Pending"...

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  15. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    I just submitted a US copyright on an article discussing a research find I made. For those who are familiar with my discovery models, this find adds a new piece  of knowledge to the King Kalakaua 1 Coronation Medal  knowledge domain.

    Background:
    The 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal  has befuddled Hawaiian numismatics for decades due to its unknown mintage, designer and manufacturer. This medal is identified as:

    2RM-9 (Hawaiian Money Standard Catalog 1991 Second Edition by Donald Medcalf & Ronald Russell)
    RM-7 (Hawaiian Moeny Standard catalog  1978 First Edition by Donald Medcalf & Ronald Russell)
    108 (Hawaiian Coins, Tokens and Paper Money1961 Revised Second Edition by Maurice and Kenneth Bressett)
    9A (Hawaiian Money and Medals 1967  by Gordon Medcalf and Robert Fong)

    Research Find:
    My research has identified the designer and manufacturer, but not the mintage of the 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal. Hawaii specialist know that this medal is rare, especially in uncirculated grades.

    Attached are the first two pages of the copyrighted article. The key items of the research Intellectual Property (IP) has been redacted, but one partial image reveals an exact description of the 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal. This is the key piece of knowledge  that is part of this  "research discovery".
    One last thing, a new metal composition of 2RM-9 has been discovered !!!!.
     



  16. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    The Royal Hawaiian Mint (RHM) is commemorating its 40th anniversary by emptying its vaults.
    I first reported their sale of past issues (i.e. hoard dispersal) on September 12, 2014 at my website. These are originally struck issues and not re-strikes. On September 16, 2014, Coin World reported the 40th anniversary of the RHM and the availability of related commemorative issues. Coin World's write-up did not mention the sale of past issues.
     
     
     
    Many of the RHM issues are available for NGC encapsulation/grading under its World Coin (Krause Publication) listing or Medcalf & Russell listing. An example of the Krause cross listing is provided at the end of this entry.
     
     
     
    Hawaiiana numismatists (includes me) are ecstatic with the offerings and many issues have sold out quickly. Several offerings being released are private issues (not previously offered for sale) or difficult to acquire issues.
     
     
     
    A sold out private issue example is the 1989 King Kalakaua Gold Hawaii State Numismatic Association (HSNA) medal (1/20 ounce, 13 mm, and .999 fine gold) with a mintage of 65. This medal is listed in Medcalf & Russell as 2M-200. RHM gold issues with miniscule mintage are tough to acquire.
     
     
     
    Another offering of limited issue is the 1992 Waterhouse Commemorative. Only 50 bronze medals were issued. The following description was taken from the RHM website:
     
     
     
    "The Waterhouse family dates back to John Thomas Waterhouse Sr. a Methodist missionary and his son, John Thomas Waterhouse Jr., who arrived in Hawaii with his father in 1851. John T. Waterhouse Jr. started the Waterhouse Trust Company, a financial firm dealing with real estate, brokerage, investments and insurance. He also served in the Legislature during the monarchy, the Provisional Government, the Republic of Hawaii and favored Hawaii's annexation to the United States. John T. Waterhouse issued the earliest known Hawaiian token in soft white metal with the bust of King Kamehameha III on the obverse and the name of his firm on the reverse with the Hawaiian inscription "hale maikai" that means "house excellent"- a good place to do business. The tokens circulated from 1855 to 1860. The Waterhouse name is still well known in Hawaii today, as descendants of John T. Waterhouse carry on the traditions of their early pioneer family with several business enterprises. In 1992, the Mint was honored to commemorate the 80th birthday of Alexander Cooke Waterhouse with gold, silver and bronze medals based on the original 1855 tokens issued by the Waterhouse Company of Honolulu."
     
     
     
    The above mentioned original Waterhouse token maybe seen at: http://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/hawaii-pscid-82/-coinid-765662
     
     
     
    Also being offered are the Hawaii Dala series. This includes the rare 24KT gold relief issues. Of the 14 Hawaii Dala offerings, 9 have sold out as of today. (Note: Most have obtain major listing status in the Krause catalogs and are one of the most expensive offerings at the RHM website).
     
     
     
    There are too many examples to provide. In all, eight issue groupings are being offered. These include: Original Issues, Royal Issues, Historic Issues, Military Issues, Contemporary Issues, Hawaii Dalas, Current Issues, and Private Issues.
     
     
     
     
     
    A Krause Publication listing of Hawaii Dala X# MB70 is for the RHM issued 1991 Princess Kaiulani Silver Dala with First Day of Issue counter stamp.
     
     
     
    http://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/hawaii-dala-x-mb70-1991-cuid-140099-duid-348605
     
     
     
    You will to need to peruse the Hawaii country listing in the Krause catalogs to locate the RHM issues.
     
     
     
    I personally have made multiple purchases. Of the 13 items I've ordered, 7 are now sold out.
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  17. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    HTML is Not Working in ALL Registry Sets.
    I was about to review one of my Registry sets and found it in a code like state (not executing the inserted HTML codes).
    What's up?
    Seems someone disabled HTML in all registry set or your website experienced a security breach
    Please post a status (disabled on purpose or security breach).
    Please post a status (estimate time of repair or actions to recover from security breach).
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  18. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Want to learn more?
    Yesterday, the American Numismatic Association confirmed that my submitted Money Talk topic was accepted for presentation at the upcoming ANA 2015 World's Fair of Money in Chicago!
    I'll be showing images of the gold & silver U.S. Mint medals that were forced to be destroyed (part of the U.S. Mint's "non-disclosure" series of medals).
    The main focus of my presentation is to present information about the U.S. Mint's "non-disclosure" series of medals. This U.S. Mint series has eluded being documented by U.S. numismatists and U.S. historians.
    The U.S. Mint has neither publicly disclosed general numismatic information nor provided any information whatsoever about this "non-disclosure" medal series that they designed and manufactured.
    I know exactly why it's a "non-disclosure" series and why the U.S. Mint is still keeping it under wraps . It will be explained and supporting evidence will be shared at the ANA 2015 World's Fair of Money in Chicago.
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  19. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    I patiently wait...still enjoying life
    NGC status
    11/05/2012 - 11 medals (Hawaii related) sent registered at my local US post office
    11/08/2012 - Received at NGC
    12/14/2012 - Scheduled for grading
    TBD - TBD
    My Status
    - 26 consecutive days of vacation
    (started 11/09/12, ended 12/04/12)
    - Daily morning runs windward Oahu (various distances)
    - 10 mile Turkey trot run in Honolulu (on turkey day)
    - Spent Thanksgiving in Hawaii with parents, brothers, sister and relatives
    - Played tourist (sometimes)
    - Played Kama'aina (most of the time)
    - Flew my AR Drone 2.0 at various Oahu beaches
    - Lectured at high school alma mater on topic of engineering
    - Flew my AR Drone 2.0 at the lecture
    - Ran in the Xterra 21K trail run (got my butt kicked by the mountainous hillsides)
    - Spent time on the beaches
    - Back to work on 12/05/12
    - Visited the Holiday decorated White House
    - Planning holiday retreat (11 consecutive days)
    - 3 incorrect body bagged Hawaii medals sent back to NGC
    - 12 additional Hawaii coin/medals submitted to NGC
    (My first AR Drone 2.0 flight is on youtube (search AR Drone Hawaii...by DRG0M3Z (with number 0 and 3 as letter substitutes) ... I am better drone pilot today...)
    White House tour was ok ... picture taken in Blue Room looking at south lawn toward Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument.

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  20. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    WoW ... I really got a bargain 11 months ago...
    At the recent Heritage 2012 April 18-22 US Coins Platinum Night CSNS Signature Auction- Schaumburg ...
    A HK-548 in MS-64 sold for $230 less buyer fees...My HK-548 in MS-66 purchased for $65 back in May 2011. Picture is of the $65 wonder ...now part of my Hawaii Statehood Medal Set
    http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/CoinCustomSetGallery.aspx?s=9345

  21. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Kingdom of Hawaii->Republic of Hawaii->Territory of Hawaii->State of Hawaii
    Finally, updated my "Territory of Hawaii Souvenir Pieces" custom set with pictures. The pictures are of raw coins I have secured in which I want NGC grading and encapsulation.
    http://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/CoinCustomSetGallery.aspx?s=8347
    I'm holding out my entire submission until I locate a non-holed version of the 2M-381. This is one tough medal to locate...
    Picture below illustrates my motive for the custom set and was taken from Hawaiian Coins, Token and Paper Money by Gould and Bressett, 1961, page 40.

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  22. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Medals with Presidential provenance...
    I finished writing my first numismatic book (the name of the book is the same as the title of this journal entry). The book is based on documents from the White House, US Treasury Department, and US Mint in Philadelphia. These documents were part of a working file belonging to a top military aide on President Eisenhower's White House Staff. The file was kept by the military aide. After his death, all his papers was passed to his son. After the son passed, all papers were turned over to the Dwight D. Eisenhower (D.D.E.) Presidential Library. In 2011, all papers belonging to the military aide completed processing into the library. In 2013, I obtained a copy of the file from the Presidential library. This means that the information presented here is relatively new to collectors. What information?
    Under direction from the White House, 17 different medals were stuck by the US Mint in Philadelphia for use by President Eisenhower. Both Gilroy Roberts and Frank Gasparro had designed the medals. To my knowledge, my book is the first to define/document the D.D.E. 17 medal series.
    President Eisenhower presented these medals to deserving individuals in thankful recognition for service to our nation, the White House, or the Presidency. This Presidential provenance limits availability to collectors as these medals are treated as presidential heirlooms by the original recipients' families. Also, several of the medals were presented to foreign nationals during Eisenhower's multi-nation trips.
    There are three classes of the medals: US Half-Dollar Size, US Silver Dollar size, and Inaugural Medal size. I have cataloged the 17 medals as DDE-01 through DDE-017. A total of 9,858 medals were struck at the US Mint in Philadelphia. 1,451 medals were destroyed before the end of President Eisenhower's 2nd term in office. 160 medals are part of the D.D.E. Presidential Library. A USSR, Philippines, Formosa, and Alaska medals were originally ordered and later cancelled.
    DDE-02 is the rarest US half-dollar size medal with a population of 436. DDE-08 is the 5th rarest of the 10 US Silver Dollar size medals, with a remaining population of 267. I also included a few interesting memos. (Yes, I did redact the mintage figures.)
    Look for the book and use the information to locate these medals with Presidential provenance.

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  23. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    Book writing is fun...
    I've been busy (up coming engineering presentations and numismatic book writing project) to write any journal entries at this website.
    I took on a side project to write a book called The Hawaiiana Numismatist. For those who don't know, the current Hawaiian numismatic reference book (I don't want to mention the name), have been perpetuating a string of errors and inaccuracies.
    What motivated me in this action is that NGC replied to an inquiry I made about a medal struck in an unlisted medal composition. Since its not listed in the Hawaiiana reference book, no NGC grading/encapsulation is possible.
    I investigated this mater and found that the Hawaiian reference book was incorrect in leaving it out, as its listed in another guidebook (that is not used by NGC).
    Just to keep things current I got my Hawaii 4-9 error back from NCS and I did a write-up at my new blog (related to the book writing effort)...
    http://thehawaiiananumismatist.com/2013/03/03/hawaii-the-49th-state-2m-391-aka-hk-722b-so-called-dollar/

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  24. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    If you Google the term "special government medal" or "sGm" or "special medals for US government agencies" your search result relating to the Bureau of the Mint or United States Mint will be empty. However, if you search the term "POTUS sGm" you will get a hit to my website (discusses a particular type of "special government medal" of which I have ongoing research).

    This empty search result  points out that these common terms  are  unused and uncommon term within the US numismatic community. However, if you review each of the  Annual Reports of the Director of the Mint (if you have the time) you will see this term is used often to describe a function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint. What is a "special government medal (sGm)"?

    The term "special medals for US government agencies" relates to the third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint.  The three blog images provides an introduction to this third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint.

    The final image with the examples of "special government medals" drives the point of this blog entry. There is no numismatic work that identifies nor catalogs all  results from the third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint (or United States Mint). The final images also provides evidence of the connection between the Bureau of the Mint and multiple United States Government agencies with Frank Gasparro as the common thread as the designer of these three represented "special Government medals".
     



  25. TheHawaiianaNumismatist
    This blog entry is not Hawaiian related....
    While performing research on my book on the   http://www.potus-sgm.com/   I tracked down the dual torch design of Frank Gasparro (I previously shared this research find at another numismatic website and wanted to share it here).  In the image:
    Left is the obverse of a Class 2 Eisenhower President of the United States  (POTUS) special Government medal (sGm) with the dual torch by Frank Gasparro and manufactured by the Bureau of the Mint in 1960.
    Middle is the reverse of the President Kennedy inauguration medal with the dual torch by Frank Gasparro and manufactured by the Bureau of the Mint in 1961.
    Right is the reverse of the General MacArthur congressional gold medal with dual torch by Frank Gasparro and manufactured by the Bureau of the Mint in 1962.
    Imagine that! Mr. Gasparro used the dual torch design in consecutive years (1960, 1961, and 1962) on three medal types (special Government medal, inauguration medal, and a congressional medal).
    If you interested in what is a POTUS sGm, visit the website link above.