Mint Medal Blanks Sold At The Mint

I've never heard that, and I highly doubt that the mint would do that. It would be a waste of their time to turn the machines on and off just to strike single coins for people.

The one I got from the Philly mint in the late 80's is 37mm in diameter. The way it went was you bought the blank, and nearby they had an old fashioned single coin press. The blank was put in the press, then you pressed the start button, and the press went through a cycle and struck your medal. They then put the medal in a small clear plastic envelope, and heat sealed it. Mine shows a picture of the mint building on one side, and a map of the US over an eagle on the other, with a small P mintmark underneath. Lousy picture of it below, hard to get a good picture still in the original packaging....




Dave

I could see it being an option at Philadelphia and Denver but not San francisco (at least after 1955) because the San Francisco Mint was not open to the public.

I own one of the medals and a blank from a tour of the Denver mint in 81. My brother and I both bought a blank to get stamped. And at the last minute I decided to get second blank to keep that way.

At the end of the tour, you entered the typical souvenir shop. You could buy the blank at a cash register; get in line for the press (other end of the room if I remember correctly); hand the blank to the man who would remove the blank from its sealed, plastic container - like the coins in a mint set; he put it into the press; you pushed the button when the man gave the all clear sign; and he removed the medal and put it in a labeled, plastic bag.

This thread made me go looking for them. I keep tokens and things like that at home. I found the stamped version. It is exactly the size/thickness of an Ike dollar. It has a pic of the mint building on the OBV with the legend around the rim reading, "[top]UNITED STATES MINT [bottom] DENVER, COLORADO,"

... and I am not shouting - the legend is all in caps

It is in a bag similar to the one Dave42 posted except the label design on front and back is the typical green and white mountain range decor of the CO license plate.

Sorry no pics right now. If I can, I have a few more tokens in another box I need to dig out. IF I can get to it soon I will try to remember to post pics.

At the time I bought the blank one, I noted that people just seemed to be buying them so they could have the opportunity to press them themselves. This is how they were being marketed - something like - "Press Your Own Souvenir."

My opinion is that most people just never thought (or had reason) to do it. I know there are a lot of coin collectors out there, but am not even sure how many people would be thinking in this direction instead of just being excited at the opportunity to own a medal that they can say they pressed.

Sorry I haven't been able to comment in the last few days.



I think this is a good analysis. I also believe (or maybe just hope) that there are more out there, atleast more than one would think based on how often they appear on the market.