A PRESIDENT'S DAY MEDAL MYSTERY

 

A President's Day Medal Mystery

A summer 1983 fixed price list from Stack's offers a President's Day medal, designed by Frank Gasparro: "President's Day Medal, 1983. 38mm .999 Gold, 44.85 grams. By Frank Gasparro. Washington & Lincoln facing. Rv. Their monuments in nation's capital. Only 100 struck by Medallic Art Company. In cherry wood case. Brilliant Proof $700.00." The piece is apparently rare, and appears in only two sources on Newman Portal, the other being a March 5, 1983 article in Numismatic News.

The March 5, 1983 article, by Ed Reiter, quotes Gasparro on the design on the medal. "I had a rough time of it placing the two heads together," he said. "On the first shot, I put Washington in front of Lincoln with side views of both. But I figured that one or the other was getting hurt. So I put them side by side." The reverse concept featuring the Washington Monument was considered during the evolution of the Anthony dollar but was ultimately discarded.

The medal was offered in gold, silver, and vermeil. With a substantial gold content (1.44 troy ounces), many of the gold medals have presumably been melted. Can an E-Sylum reader identify such an example?

Image: President's Day Medal by Frank Gasparro, from the March 5, 1983 Numismatic News.

Link to Stack's Fixed Price Lists on Newman Portal:
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/516535

Link to silver President's Day Medal by Frank Gasparro on eBay:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/395704189572

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