Sometime this spring at a date still to be announced, the United States Mint will strike and release a 1-ounce silver medal recognizing the 25th president of the United States, William McKinley.

The Matte Finish .999 fine silver presidential medal will replicate the original circa 1901 McKinley presidential medal executed and released by the bureau after the president’s death.

The 1901 medal was designed and engraved by the sixth chief engraver of the United States Mint, Charles E. Barber.

Barber’s designer’s signature appears on the truncation of McKinley’s bust as C.E. BARBER F. The F is short for the Latin “fecit,” meaning in English “made it.”

The reverse design features a funerary wreath being looked over by a mourning figure. It bears four dates: inauguration dates for McKinley’s  first and second terms as chief executive; his assassination; and his death.

The inscription appears in 10 lines as INAUGURATED / PRESIDENT ∙ OF ∙ THE / UNITED ∙ STATES / MAR ∙ 4 ∙ 1897 / SECOND TERM MAR ∙ 4 ∙ 1901 / ASSASSINATED / SEP ∙ 6 ∙ 1901 / DIED ∙ SEP ∙ 14 / 1901.

Six months into his second term as president, McKinley was mortally wounded Sept. 6, 1901, by anarchist Leon Czolgosz as the president was greeting visitors at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

Czolgosz, an American laborer, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen using a revolver he had concealed with a cloth rag.

McKinley, at age 58, died from gangrene eight days after being shot by Czolgosz.

McKinley was the last U.S. president to have fought in the Civil War and, important to numismatists, in 1900 he signed the Gold Standard Act, setting gold as the sole basis for redeeming paper money.

When McKinley’s Presidential silver medal is offered for sale by the Mint, the retail price will be $90.

Connect with Coin World:  
Sign up for our free eNewsletter
Access our Dealer Directory  
Like us on Facebook  
Follow us on X (Twitter)

Whether you’re a current subscriber or new, you can take advantage of the best offers on magazine subscriptions available in digital, print or both! Whether you want your issue every week or every month, there’s a subscription to meet your needs.