NNP Blog

6 DECEMBER 2022

Lincoln and Garfield Medal Correspondence

The assassination of President James Garfield in 1881 quickly resulted in a medallic tribute from the U.S. Mint, featuring the busts of both Abraham Lincoln and Garfield. Medals were produced in gold and silver in both large (Julian PR-40, 25mm) and small (Julian PR-41, 19mm) format. Recently transcribed by Newman Portal are several pieces of U.S. Mint correspondence from the period, related to these medals. Julian notes these pieces were often used as charms, and indeed, the market today assigns strong premiums to pieces in the upper Proof range. Link to U.S. Mint Lincoln-Garfield medal correspondence: https://archive.org/details/newmannumismatic?query=garfield+medal&sin=TXT&sort=-publicdate