U.S. Mint preparing two silver medal programs

By Paul Gilkes

Published: Jan 19, 2018, 5 AM

The U.S. Mint produced .999 fine silver versions of four Presidential medals in 2015 for inclusion in Coin and Chronicles sets with Presidential dollars. The U.S. Mint plans to offer Proof silver Presidential medals going back to George Washington, an addition to its ongoing medals programs.

Images courtesy of U.S. Mint

The silver presidential medals are to be struck on the same blanks as those used for the American Eagle 1-ounce silver coins.

Two new silver medal programs are planned by the U.S. Mint, officials told members of the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee during their Jan. 16 teleconference.

Mint officials also announced a five-year program to follow the current three-year program for the Proof American Eagle platinum coins.

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Ann Bailey, the U.S. Mint’s products manager, said the U.S. Mint will be producing Proof .999 fine silver versions of its Presidential medals that are currently produced in 1.312-inch bronze versions (33.34 millimeters). The Mint will continue to also produce the bronze versions, Bailey said. The silver version will be struck on 40.6-millimeter 1-ounce silver planchets used to produce American Eagle silver dollars.

Bailey said the Mint plans to strike the George Washington and John Adams medals in silver in 2018, and then add four silver medals a year until all presidents are represented with silver medals. The new silver medals will become part of the United States Mint’s ongoing medal program.

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In 2015, the U.S. Mint produced silver versions of the Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential medals and included them with Presidential dollars in limited-edition Coin and Chronicles sets. Those four silver medals were struck with a non-Proof finish.

The U.S. Mint also plans to use the American Eagle planchets to strike Proof silver medals celebrating all branches of the U.S. armed forces; they would be part of the Mint’s permanent medals offerings. The medals will not bear designs tied to any anniversary or specific date but just be reflective of the service branch honored.

Platinum American Eagles

Product Development Branch Chief Darryl Delaney said the design theme for the next series of Proof American Eagle platinum coins beginning in 2021 will be the five freedoms guaranteed under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution:

??Freedom of religion.

??Freedom of speech.

??Freedom of the press.

??Freedom to assemble peaceably.

??Freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The program will follow on the heels of the three-year program begun in 2018, dedicated to the inalienable rights listed in the Declaration of Independence: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

Inaugurated in 1997, the Proof American Eagle platinum coin program has introduced new reverse designs annually beginning in 1998, each paired with the Statue of Liberty obverse. In a departure from that pattern, for the three-year program for 2018 to 2020 inclusive, the coins will bear a common eagle reverse, with the obverse designs differing each year.

U.S. Mint officials indicate the Proof 2021 to 2025 platinum coins will return to the former annual arrangement, exhibiting a common obverse design with different reverses.