Outgoing Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is going to recognize his legacy with a medallic tribute struck by the U.S. Mint that his predecessor Timothy Geithner chose not to do.

Full video transcript:

This is the Monday Morning Brief for November 28, 2016. I’m Coin World Senior Editor Paul Gilkes.

Outgoing Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is going to recognize his legacy with a medallic tribute struck by the U.S. Mint that his predecessor, Timothy Geithner, chose not to do.

On November 17, the Commission of Fine Arts and Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee separately recommended the same proposed obverse and reverse designs for Lew’s Treasury secretary’s medal.

Once the designs are approved, by Lew himself, the U.S. Mint will strike 3-inch versions in bronze that will be made available for sale to collectors and the general public.

The recommended obverse for the Lew medal depicts a front-facing portrait of the 76th Treasury secretary with a ghost image of an American flag in the background. The recommended reverse depicts a Harriet Tubman quote tucked in between the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on the reverse.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew is getting a medal and these are the recommended designs: The CFA announced Nov. 17 that it recommends the same two designs. Both the obverse and reverse designs were favored by Secretary Lew himself.

Earlier in 2016, Lew approved the redesign of U.S. paper money to include a portrait of Tubman to displace that of Andrew Jackson on the face of the $20 Federal Reserve note.

Geithner, who served as the nation’s 75th Treasury secretary for President Obama’s first term, opted not to avail himself of the honor of a medal. The last Treasury secretary’s medal struck at the Philadelphia Mint was for Henry M. Paulson Jr., who served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury for President George W. Bush’s second term.

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When he nixed production of his Treasury secretary’s medal, Geithner also nixed production of a Mint director’s medal for Edmund C. Moy, the 38th director of the U.S. Mint. Moy’s five-year presidential appointment by President Bush overlapped into President Obama’s administration.

Geithner nixed production of both medals as part of the administration-wide initiative to control Treasury Department costs.

The Mint director’s post has remained vacant since Moy’s January 2011 departure. And the Senate has failed to approve either of President Obama’s nominees for the position.

Election of President-elect Trump brings multiple collecting possibilities: Donald Trump’s election as the 45th president of the United States opens the door to a number of numismatic collectibles for hobbyists to pursue.

When production of Moy’s Mint director’s medal was nixed by Geithner, proposed designs for the Moy medal were already in the pipeline awaiting final approval.

Let’s hope that with the production of Lew’s Treasury secretary’s medal that the tradition will continue uninterrupted.

For Coin World, I’m Paul Gilkes.