1945 FDR Fourth Inaugural Medal, Gold And Silver.

to CCF. Someone will be able to tell you what you want to know, I am just not familiar with these.

Now I know one of youse has got that book. That's how CCF works.

To Scott Eyer, good pics and an interesting and possibly valuable piece of history!

Using information from H. Joseph Levine's book on inaugural medals, the mintages were 3,500 for the bronze, 2 for the silver and 10 for the gold. Gold mintage, which is usually no more than two or three pieces, was high because medals were given to the following individuals most likely because of the war time situation:

Joseph Stalin
Winston Churchill
V. M. Molotov (Russian diplomat)
Anthony Eden (British political leader)
The then King of Saudi Arabia, Ibn Saud

In addition gold medals are usually given to the president, the vice president and the chairman of the inaugural committee. The FDR meal is in the FDR library. That probably accounts for 8 of the 10 medals and most of those pieces will never be available to collectors.

Levine noted that his firm sold one of the silver medals for $9,000 in 1977 in a private sale. With a mintage of 2, I don't know how you ended up with both of the silver medals. I should note that Levine's book was published in 1981, and that things have undoubtedly changed since then.

As for values, the bronze medal retails for $150 to $250 depending upon the state of preservation. Unlike the 1949 Truman bronze medal, which often has toning issues, these pieces tend to come nice when they have not been abused.

Prices for the gold and silver medals are speculative. With perhaps seven or eight of the gold metal permanently off the market, I could see one going for $50 to $150 thousand in auction, maybe more, but that's just a guess. The rarer silver pieces are probably in the same price category. A least a couple of collectors got together to bid up a Nobel Peace Prize medal to over $1 million, but that is a different class of collectable.

The main interest I have in this medal is that it provides an accurate view of FDR in his last months when his health was failing and he had little time left to live.

I own a bronze piece, and my general view is that these items look best in that metal. The gold and silver pieces are obviously much rarer and prestigious to own so, of course, they bring far more money.

The reference that I have by Neil Macneil ("The President's Medal 1789 - 1977") notes the following distribution:

Gold - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Gold - Joseph Stalin
Gold - Winston Churchill
Gold - V. M. Molotov
Gold - Anthony Eden
Gold - King Ibn Saud
Gold - Joseph Davies
Gold - Nellie Ross
Gold - Roosevelt Library
Gold - Roosevelt Library

Silver - Melvin Hildreth
Silver - Alfons Landa