US Coins

Trump website offers purported official inaugural

Apparently, without public fanfare, what is being considered to be President Trump’s official inaugural medal is being marketed through donaldjtrump.com/.

The bronze medal is being struck by Medalcraft Mint, the Green Bay, Wisconsin, firm that was expected to produce an official inaugural medal in the weeks after the November 2016 presidential election.


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Production of any medal was delayed for months by the Trump camp until details could be worked out on whether a rendering of the White House could be used in the design for the medal’s reverse.

The medal being marketed at https://shop.donaldjtrump.com/products/presidential-medal is simply identified as a “Presidential Medal,” without being designated the official inaugural medal.

However, former Louisiana congressman Jimmy Hayes, a prolific collector of official presidential inaugural medals, said: “I believe they view the medal added to their website as official. They issued statements to that effect.”

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Jerry Moran, owner and CEO of Medalcraft Mint, said John Pence, a nephew of Vice President Mike Pence and a member of President Trump’s re-election campaign, arranged for the production of the medals. The contract did not specify that the medal was an official inaugural medal.

The bronze Trump medal’s obverse features a nearly front facing portrait of the 45th president, with DONALD J. TRUMP inscribed along the top border. The reverse design features an enlarged portion of a breeze-blown American flag with design enameled in red, white, and blue. Inscribed around the border is ? MAKE AMERICA ? GREAT AGAIN.

The medal measures 2.75 inches in diameter and is 0.22 inch thick. The medal’s edge is stamped incuse MEDALCRAFT MINT — GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN.

Moran said there is no set mintage. The medals are being retailed for $45 each.

In the initial development of a Trump inaugural medal, Medalcraft Mint provided the Trump camp with five proposed obverse portraits, all of which were rejected.

Two of those portraits were used in production of medals in limited numbers for the Ohio Republican Committee and Republican National Committee. The portraits were paired with a presidential seal.

Until the release of the enameled medal, the ORC and RNC medals were being considered by some as official inaugural medals.

Many in the numismatic community believed that because of the delay in issuing a medal, there would be no official Trump inaugural medal, breaking a long tradition. 

The common practice for decades was for a panel from an incoming president’s inaugural committee to plan and contract for production of an official medal to commemorate the historical event.

The official inaugural medals are often struck in bronze and silver versions for individual sale; often gold examples in a smaller diameter are also created. 


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