American Arts Commemorative Series of Gold Medallions

Before the United States Mint started minting gold American Eagle coins, the United States government authorized a set of gold medallions, each containing 1 ounce or ½ ounce of gold, to be struck and sold. What is unusual is a 1 ounce and ½ ounce medallion were struck each year, and each featured a different artist.

 The minting occurred from 1980 through 1984, and was done at the West Point Mint. The subjects of these medallions were famous artists, and ten different medallions were struck.

 These were not very popular. Numismatists perhaps would have embraced them more if they had been coins, but they had no legal tender status. They were intended to be bullion, not coins. At the time they were first minted the Krugerrand had a stigma, yet it was the most frequently mentioned gold bullion coin. The medallions were to be a reasonable alternative to the Krugerrand.

 1980 — Marian Anderson

 1980 — Grant Wood

 1981 — Mark Twain

 1981 — Willa Cathe

 1982 — Louis Armstrong

 1982 — Frank Lloyd Wright

 1983 — Robert Frost

 1983 — Alexander Calder

 1984 — Helen Hayes

 1984 — Helen Steinbeck