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ONRCOINS
ONRCOINS
June 11, 2020 1 min read
By Steve Roach Jun 2, 2020, 11 AM
Among the most handsome of the Assay Commission’s issues is George T. Morgan’s 1920 medal, which features the same obverse portrait of Woodrow Wilson as is used on the 1919 and 1921 medals. The reverse design takes a nod from contemporary coin designs, with a single figure positioned between two architectural elements, as seen on Hermon A. MacNeil’s Standing Liberty quarter dollar. The medal shows an armored, seated Liberty, facing the viewer, with her sword reversed, holding an olive branch.
Regarding the inscriptions VICTORY and PEACE that flank Liberty, Stack’s Bowers writes, “The 1920 Assay Commission medal is the series’ equivalent of the Peace silver dollar of 1921 to 1935, which was also produced in commemoration of the return of peace after the end of World War I.”
Thirty were struck on Feb. 17, 1920, but the issue was popular with contemporary collectors, and as many as 50 more were produced later in the year.
Of the medal in the Stack’s Bowers Galleries March 18 auction, graded Mint State 65, the cataloger writes, “The obverse exhibits dominant sandy-gold patina with swirls of flint gray and pale rose scattered about,” adding, “The reverse has a more uniform appearance in rich golden-bronze.” The 51-millimeter medal realized $408.