US Coins

Sales fall for bronze medals after 2021 price rise

By Paul Gilkes , Coin World

Published: Dec 10, 2021, 9 AM

U.S. Mint customers preferred the 1.3125-inch bronze medal (left) for President Obama’s first term over that for his second term. The Donald J. Trump Presidential medal was the top seller of 2021.

Images courtesy of the United States Mint.

The U.S. Mint’s decision to substantially raise the prices in 2021 on its bronze medals for the first time in 11 years had a profound effect on sales of some of the medals.

At Coin World’s request, the U.S. Mint provided a listing of the sales of all of its medals from its product catalog for calendar years 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The accompanying chart provides recorded sales for the 20 most popular medals offered by the bureau. The designation N/A indicates the medal issued was not offered for sale during a specified year.

On Jan. 1, 2021, the prices for 3-inch bronze medals more than quadrupled, to $160, from the $39.95 charged in 2020 and 2019.

The prices for the 1.3125-inch and 1.5-inch bronze medals nearly tripled, to $20, from $6.95.

The 1.3125-inch diameter size is used for the smaller Presidential medals and some other topical medals.

The top sales recorded for any medal was the 2021 sales of 3,681 of the 1.3125-inch Donald J. Trump Presidential medal.

Sales of the 1.3125-inch first-term medal for President Obama went from 2,356 in 2019 to 2,361 in 2020 when the medal price was $6.95, but dropped to 1,035 in 2021 when the price tripled.

Second-term Obama small medal sales were affected the same way, going from 1,660 in 2019 to 1,682 in 2020, but dropping to 715 in 2021.

The U.S. Mint uses two different bronze compositions for its collector medals.

The 1.3125-inch medals are made from a composition of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

For all 3-inch bronze medals and for 1.5-inch bronze duplicates of congressional gold medals, a composition of 90% copper and 10% zinc is used.

United States Mint Bronze Medal Sales 2019-2021
Description	2021 sales*	2020 sales	2019 sales

U.S. Marine Corps Bicentennial 3-inch	104	506	1,072
U.S. Army Bicentennial 3-inch	101	630	765
U.S. Navy Bicentennial	132	481	1,345
Fort Knox Bullion Depository 1.3125-inch	128	126	171
Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King 1.5-inch	430	712	686
Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King 3-inch	10	138	191
Barack Obama Presidential, 1.3125-inch, First Term	1,035	2,361	2,356
Barack Obama Presidential, 1.3125-inch, Second Term	715	1,682	1,660
Barack Obama Presidential, 3-inch, First Term	57	295	482
Barack Obama Presidential, 3-inch Second Term	52	327	359
Tuskegee Airmen 3-inch	133	235	200
Tuskegee Airmen 1.5-inch	2,020	863	1,217
Abraham Lincoln Presidential, 1.3125-inch	252	366	577
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential, 1.3125-inch	167	355	364
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 3-inch	50	199	237
Doolittle Tokyo Raiders, 1.5-inch	398	753	895
Monuments Men, 3-inch	1	173	57
Monuments Men, 1.5-inch	114	2,415	464
Donald J. Trump Presidential, 1.3125-inch	3,681	N/A	N/A
Donald J. Trump Presidential, 3-inch	736	N/A	N/A