Three-inch bronze versions of the U.S. Coast Guard Bicentennial medal can now be purchased from the U.S. Mint.

The 3-inch medal is available for $160, four times what 3-inch bronze medals were offered for in 2020, at $39.95. The new pricing went into effect Jan. 1, 2021.

The medal’s obverse, according to the U.S. Mint’s narrative, “features the inspiring painting ‘To the Rescue’ by Anton Otto Fischer, depicting a 19th-century Coast Guard rescue boat battling stormy seas to aid a disabled vessel. Lieutenant Commander Fischer painted it while on active duty in the Coast Guard Reserve.”

GUARDIANS OF THE SEA is inscribed on a flowing banner at the top border, and 200 YEARS OF SERVICE is inscribed along the bottom border.

The reverse design, supplied by the U.S. Coast Guard, bears the U.S. Coast Guard seal — the shield of the coat of arms of the United States, the motto SEMPER PARATUS, or “always ready,” with UNITED STATES COAST GUARD 1790 superimposed upon two crossed anchors.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard Historian’s Office, the military branch was established Aug. 4, 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of 10 vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws and to prevent smuggling. It was known variously through the 19th and early 20th centuries as the Revenue Marine and the Revenue Cutter Service. The current name was set by Congress in 1915.

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