OBAMA RECEIVES HIS PRESIDENTIAL MINT MEDALS

Obverse Designer: Richard Masters
Obverse Sculptor–Engraver: Phebe Hemphill
Reverse Designer: Don Everhart
Reverse Sculptor–Engraver: Don Everhart

Obverse Designer: Don Everhart
Obverse Sculptor–Engraver: Don Everhart
Reverse Designer: Don Everhart
Reverse Sculptor–Engraver: Don Everhart

President Barack Obama today received official bronze medals depicting each of his two terms in office. During a brief ceremony in the Oval Office, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin and U.S. Mint Principal Deputy Director Rhett Jeppson presented medals featuring the president's portrait on the obverse (heads side) and portions of memorable speeches delivered during his presidency on the reverse side.

"It has been a privilege to serve President Obama over these last eight years and to have witnessed his leadership up close," Secretary Lew said. "His historic presidency has improved the lives of millions of Americans and the medals presented today are just one way that his legacy will be honored."

Presidential medals represent a custom of honoring each president of the United States with an official medal for each term in office. Presidents who serve more than one term are traditionally honored with two medals, one highlighting each of their terms. Since the 1960s, with the exception of Ronald Reagan, all presidents who served more than one term have received two medals. Each medal measures three inches in diameter and weighs approximately nine ounces.

"The medals presented to President Obama ensure that a long-standing tradition of honoring our presidents remains unbroken," said Jeppson. "Designed, sculpted and struck by the men and women of the U.S. Mint, the medals institutionalize his legacy in a tangible and historical form alongside those leaders who preceded him--from Washington to present."

Also participating in the ceremony were Elisa Basnight, Chief of Staff of the Mint; Don Everhart, lead sculptor of the Mint; and Phebe Hemphill, Mint medallic artist. Everhart sculpted the reverse of the first term medal and designed and sculpted both the obverse and reverse of the medal honoring the president's second term. Hemphill sculpted the obverse of the first term medal.

Nicely done portraits - the obverses are well executed, and clearly show the president's aging in office. The reverses are well, wordy. They're great, short quotes that fit the available space well, but I think these would be better medals without all the text and larger renderings of the eagle and White House instead. The incuse signture is a nice feature and could also be made larger.

And another thing - Mint Press Releases are terrible - they don't bother including images of the subject matter, nor do they include links to where to find them, just a not-very-helpful link to the Mint's home page. The medals were not in the image gallery under Medals or any other category. Eventually I found them in the product catalog.

And how about a link to the authorizing legislation? The wordiness could be due to Congressional instructions - coin designers only have so much leeway - they have to follow the specifications laid out in the law.

I would have expected a link to a photo of the event as well. Maybe I should have checked the WhiteHouse.gov web site BEFORE Inauguration Day. The Photos section is gone from the Briefing Room, as is all trace of the previous administration. Does that content go over to the National Archives along with email files? I also checked the Internet Archive's Wayback machine, but their last snapshot of the site was in December. Hopefully the official White House photo of the event will turn up somewhere, someday. -Editor