CCAC recommends Olympics designs for handover medal

A rendition of the Winged Victory of Samothrace statue is recommended by the CCAC for the obverse of the 2024 Olympics handover silver medal.

Images courtesy of the United States Mint.

The Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee recommended proposed designs Nov. 28 for the obverse and reverse of a silver “handover” medal to be struck by the U.S. Mint in conjunction with the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, France.

The advisory panel considered 14 designs, none of which was designated specifically beforehand as an intended obverse or reverse.

The 2028 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games are to be held in Los Angeles.

At the closing ceremonies  of each Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games, the host nation is presented a medal or other memento from the host for the subsequent Summer Games, to recognize the “handing over” of the Games.

The U.S. Mint is awaiting authorization from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to strike 3-inch .999 fine silver national medals to be provided to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Properties for presentation to their French counterparts at the close of the Paris Games. Mint officials indicate it has no current plans to produce duplicates of the silver medal for sale to the public in any composition.

The CCAC recommended for the silver medal’s obverse a design illustrating the headless Winged Victory of Samothrace, with stylized PARIS/2024 and LOS/ANGELES 2028.

Some concern was raised as to whether the lettering looked too much like street graffiti. Donald Scarinci, a medal specialist and longest tenured CCAC member, said graffiti should be embraced as street art. CCAC member Dennis Tucker, publisher of Whitman Publishing LLC, considered the recommended design submission as the “most compelling and arresting approach.”

For the reverse, the CCAC recommended a design that depicts the Los Angeles Coliseum in the background as though seen through Paris’ Arc de Triomphe in the foreground.

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