General Douglas MacArthur, a command veteran of World War I, World War II and the Korean War, achieved the highest rank within the US Army during his career, that of General of the Army. As books have been written about him, I will not attempt to recap his life in a few lines here. I encourage those with an interest to seek out on-line and print references about the General, his life and legacy. He was born on January 26, 1880 in Little Rock, Arkansas and died on April 5, 1964 in Washington, DC at the age of 84.
The memorial medals were produced and sold by Capitol Medals, Inc. of High Point, NC. In 1962, Aaron C. Schultz founded Capitol Medals ("Capitol") and entered the numismatic marketplace with a medal series called "States of the Union." At the time, he was looking to capture some of the commemorative market that was created after the US issued its last classic-era commemorative coin in 1954.
Advertisements for the Capitol Medals MacArthur Memorial medal first appeared in the July issue of the American Numismatic Association's (
ANA)
The Numismatist magazine.
General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Medal
Note: I have removed the clear front and back panels from the three-piece holder to enable a clearer picture of the black insert and medals.The obverse of the medal presents a front-facing portrait of General Douglas Macarthur; he is flanked with his birth ("1880") and death years ("1964"). Encircling the portrait are the inscriptions "GENERAL OF THE ARMY" (above) and "DOUGLAS MacARTHUR" (below). The medal's reverse includes a five-star cluster (indicative of MacArthur's rank) at the top, with two of his famous quotes in the center encircled by a laurel wreath: "I shall return." and "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." The first was proclaimed in Australia after MacArthur was forced to leave the Philippines in 1942 due to Japanese advances - the full quote is "I came through and I shall return." (MacArthur made good on his promise in 1944) and the second was stated in his address to the US Congress on April 19, 1951. (MacArthur quoted an old Army ballad - the quote was not original.)
The same design was produced in three general-release versions: 0.999 fine silver, bronze - silver satin oxidized and bronze oxidized. (The two bronze versions are shown here in the custom holder.) The medals sold for $10.00. $3.50 and $2.20, respectively. In contemporary advertisements for the medals, the bronze versions had a listed mintage of "unlimited" while the fine silver version mintage was noted as a maximum of 7,500. A platinum version of the medal was also available via special order, as was a version in "alphabetecones." (I am unfamiliar with "alphabetecones" - maybe a metals expert can chime in with some information?)
The coin-relief medals are 1-17/32" in diameter ("Crown size").
Capitol Medal also produced a John Fitzgerald Kennedy Memorial Medal in 1964. You can read more about it here:
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1964 John F. Kennedy Memorial MedalsFor other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, see:
Commems Collection.
Posted 02/21/2023 12:26 pm
