Truly a lovely medal, even though I am not the most ardent fan of the ANA, I had to buy this medal. It is apparently a Frank Gasparro design, the obverse is very similar to the 1977 Dollar coin concept prior to the SBA fiasco. I like the high relief of this medal, and the tribute to the Liberty Cap designs from the 1790's.

And I believe I saw something very similar in a PCI recently

Beautiful piece, and I agree it should have been a coin

The medal is terrific. It's one of my favorite of the ANA medals. Gasparro did a nice job on the design and engraving on this one. It would have made a great $1 coin.

That medal is so sweet! Congrats!

Agree, love the Obverse

I'm jealous

Interestingly there's an ad from the Royal Oak Mint in this weeks CoinWorld for a copy of the Gasparro $1 with this obverse. I don't find it on their webpage.

Does your medal have a serial number on the edge?

No, this is one of the 5/8ths size examples, really small.

Is it like 19mm?

Precisely

I thought it would have been nice if they released this as a commemorative after he died in 10/2001.
I guess the Salt Lake City Olympics silver dollar was just too important an opportunity for the world to pass up.

According to the ANA there were only 400 of the 19mm medals issued. They were part of sets that contained three medals. A 38mm bronze, a 38mm silver, and a 19mm bronze. The badges for this convention were identical and also issued in a 19mm version but they have a loop at the top and a ribbon.

Quite a low number issued. It always amazes me that they are so inexpensive. They're designed and engraved by some of the world's top folks. These medals were done my Metal Arts - they're know for outstanding "minting". And to top it off, since they're not intended for circulation they are ofter high relief.

The picture is of the 38mm and 19mm convention badges.

Thats a beautiful coin. I would love to have that as the US Dollar coin...but without that stick and hat thing or what ever that is behind the head on the obverse. And I dont like how it has the lines like a SBA dollar.

To think it was an inexpensive purchase at my local coin shop

That "stick and hat" is usually called a Liberty Cap or Phrygian Cap. It is a symbol of liberty, also found on actual early US coins, particularly the Liberty Cap Cent (late 18c). And the Seated Liberty on some 19c dollar coins has that stick with a cap in her hand as well.

Maybe the US government considered the use of the Phrygian Cap to be too French and was therefore against the design? (That cap can also be found on many French coins, and Liberty's head with that cap is the symbol of the Republic.) But many other countries have used or use it too.

Such a Liberty Cap Dollar would surely have been more attractive than the SBA+Sac bucks. Liberty's head would have had to be modified a little, I think, but otherwise it is a great design (including the cap, hehe). Problem is, an attractive design does, by itself, not turn a dollar coin into a circulating dollar coin. So this one would have ended up in vaults just like "Susan" and the "Golden" Dollar ...

Christian

I agree, but I actually like the hat. What I do not care for on the design is the reverse; that eagle looks too much like a dove or pigeon, and the rock over which it flies says nothing.