A Landmark Moment for American Exposition Medals
The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition produced more high-quality numismatic designs than any American exposition before or since.
The official United States commemorative program included four distinctive designs. Charles Keck designed the gold one-dollar coin. United States Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber and Engraver George T. Morgan designed the silver half dollar and gold $2.50 quarter eagle. Robert Aitken designed the round and octagonal $50 gold coins.
Aitken also designed a souvenir medal struck at the exposition. However, sculptor John Flanagan created the official Medal of Award, the subject of this article.
Why Award Medals Mattered
Aitken’s medal design was clear, direct, and easy to understand. The exposition also produced it in larger numbers.
Flanagan’s Medal of Award served a different purpose. Exposition participants valued it because it documented achievement. Winners used award medals and certificates of merit, also called “diplomas,” to promote their products and publicize their success.
Many companies displayed engravings of these awards on letterhead, brochures, and advertisements for years after the exposition ended.[1]
How the Diplomas Were Personalized
The Panama-Pacific International Exposition Committee used generic printed diplomas and award medals. Then it customized them for each winner.
The committee received diplomas with a blank space above the rainbow. Next, a San Francisco printing company added the award level. That line could read “gold medal,” “silver medal,” “bronze medal,” or another category.
Finally, a typist added the recipient’s name, location, and product. Surviving examples show that the typed characters did not always line up evenly.
The Philadelphia Mint Struck the Award Medals
The exposition used a similar system for the medals.
The Philadelphia Mint struck all of the award medals in bronze on hydraulic medal presses. Then the Mint shipped them to the Panama-Pacific International Exposition offices.
Exposition officials plated the gold and silver award medals with a thin layer of the proper metal. Bronze awards needed no plating, so officials issued them as the Mint delivered them.
Flanagan’s Design
The medals measure 69.85 millimeters, or 2.75 inches, in diameter.[3] They weigh 133 grams.
On the obverse, two nude figures represent the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. They rise from the sea and join at the Isthmus of Panama.
The inscription reads DIVINE DISTIVNCTA IVNXIT HOMO, or “Man United What Was Divinely Separated.” Flanagan placed his JF monogram inside the center of the final “O” in HOMO.
The reverse shows architect Thomas Hastings’s 435-foot Tower of Jewels [4] behind sculptor Alexander Stirling Calder’s Fountain of Energy.
The inscriptions read PANAMA-PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION / MCMXV. Lower in the center, a plain cartouche reads MEDAL OF AWARD.
Unlike the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition medal, Flanagan’s medal did not include a space for the recipient’s name. Therefore, all examples remain anonymous. Only the diplomas connect specific medals to specific winners.
A 20,000-Piece Distribution
After the exposition, officials distributed 20,000 medals.[5]
The Mint struck them in batches of 500 or 1,000 pieces. It delivered those batches from November 5, 1915, through December 20, 1916.
The manufacturing process differed from normal medal production.
Usually, the Mint’s Medal Department used chemicals or sandblasting to give a medal its final finish. The Mint used that standard finishing treatment on 3,000 bronze medals intended for issue without further change.
However, those finishing methods interfered with uniform gold and silver plating. As a result, the Medal Department prepared 17,000 smooth-surface, or “satin,” medals without the usual antiquing effects expected on artistic medals.
Exposition officials plated those smooth medals. Evidently, the contractor also tried to improve their appearance after plating. The effort failed. Today, many plated examples look dull and unattractive.[6]
Requests for Solid Silver and Gold Medals
Several award recipients wanted medals struck in real silver or gold. The Mint Bureau prepared to accommodate those requests.
The first request appears to have arrived in October or early November 1915.
“Will you please advise the Bureau by return mail of the cost of striking a Panama-Pacific International Exposition medal in silver, it being understood that the person desiring such a medal shall present a certificate from the Exposition Company that he is entitled to such a medal in that metal. I would suggest that if such requests are received in due form from individuals, the Mint should be reimbursed for the cost of making the medal, as well as for the cost of the metal contained.”[7]
The record mentions silver or gold medals again about six months later.
“Referring to your letter of the 24th instant stating that the cost of silver medals of award of the Panama-Pacific International Exposition will be $2.50 in addition to the cost of the silver, which varies from day to day, I beg to request that a definite price be stated. If $6.00 will cover the cost of the silver and that of making the medal, I would prefer to state such a price. If, in your estimation, that is not enough, please state the amount which should be named.”[8]
Solid Silver and Gold Examples
Available United States Mint medal records do not show any solid gold or solid silver medals.
However, several fine silver examples are known. In addition, at least one fine gold medal reportedly exists.
A copy struck in fine silver, or .999 silver, should weigh about 5.01 troy ounces. A .999 gold strike would weigh about 9.21 troy ounces.
In 1915-16, a silver medal would have cost about $6. A gold version would have cost about $195.
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Citations
- [1] RG104 E-235 Vol 411. Memorandum for Philadelphia Mint dated July 30, 1915, noting approval of the Solicitor of the Treasury for advertising use.
- [2] [untitled article “At the Panama Exhibition,”] Oamaru Mail, August 28, 1915. 4. National Library of New Zealand.
- [3] The official diameter is 2.75 inches. Some sources say the diameter is 70.6 mm, and others state 71.1 mm.
- [4] According to SanFranciscomemories.com, the “radiance of the 435-foot Tower of Jewels came from huge searchlights aimed at it from a circle of hidden stations. Perhaps the most exquisite and dazzling feature of the fair, the Tower, with its 102,000 pieces of glittering multicolored cut Bohemian glass, optimistically called “Novagems,” refracted and reflected both sunlight and nighttime illumination. The glass pieces were 47mm wide and backed by mirrors. They were mounted on brass hangers with a small mirror behind them to further increase their reflectivity, and individually attached to the structure so they would move in the wind. This created a shimmering effect over the building’s façade.”
- [5] This is the quantity ordered and delivered according to Exposition Company letters and Mint records. Some sources state 20,344 without explaining the difference.
- [6] A gold-plated example graded NGC MS65 was offered by Tipsico Coin Co. of Eagle, Indiana in 2019. This showed sloppy plating and antiquing which resembled dirt buildup.
- [7] RG104 E-235 Vol 412. Letter dated November 4, 1915, to Joyce from Woolley.
- [8] RG104 E-235 Vol 414. Letter dated March 27, 1916, to Joyce from Woolley. The price of $6 assumes about 5 ounces of fine silver would be used at $0.66 per ounce. The direct wants to simplify transactions by quoting potential buyers a price that covers any reasonable increase in silver cost.
Beautiful artwork !