The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 20, May 16, 2004, Article 16

JULIAN'S POLITICAL/SATIRICAL MEDALS

Joe Boling writes: "In response to Steve Pellegrini's inquiry
about Bob Julian's satirical medals, the following information is
gleaned from my correspondence with Bob during the years
he was producing these medals.

The MacArthur medal is not the last, but the fourth in a series
of the following titles:

1977 Media - Nixon
1978 Panama Canal - Theodore Roosevelt
1979 Energy - (Lincoln?)
1980 Defense - MacArthur
1981 Justice - Washington

I believe the only composition of the Media medal was bronze.
He added Cu-Ni (not Cu-Ag) at the second medal, for which
production figures were: bronze 1100; Cu-Ni 45. Cu-Ni was
offered each year thereafter until the end of the series (at the
fifth medal). Prices were $9.95 each, either composition, until
the Justice medal, when the price had to be raised to $12.50.
Even so, he lost money that year. His report of sales for that
piece showed sales of "Somewhat over 800" against a
purchase of 1000 (to get a pricing break at that level). I don't
know what happened to the unsold 180+ pieces - perhaps
they are still hanging over the market. He did not specify the
compositions of the 800+ medals sold. I bought one Media
medal, two bronze examples each subsequent year (one as a
gift for my Dad), and in the last three years I also bought the
Cu-Ni composition. I bought a bronze process set of the
Defense medal, and in some way that I cannot account for I
have two plasters of the Media medal."

[When I wrote that I didn't think I'd ever seen these medals,
Joe replied: "They were not widely advertised - Bob Julian
did not have lots of bucks to put into that, at the prices he
was charging. It was a labor of love for him, and when it
started losing money he had to quit. One year he complained
that the press releases he sent out were edited so that
ordering information was omitted." -Editor]

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization 
promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor 
at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum