1879 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-19, Silver, H.R. Linderman

Coin Details

Auction Record

$900 AU Details 05-29-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

The 1879 Assay Commission medal JK-AC-19 in silver is a precious-metal presentation striking of the Henry Richard Linderman portrait design. The silver composition adds a layer of formality to this tribute to the former Mint Director, who had died in January 1879, making this medal an effective memorial as well as a recognition piece. Linderman's passing just months before the commission's annual meeting gave the 1879 medal a valedictory quality that would not have been anticipated when the design was conceived. Linderman had served the Mint through two of the most consequential periods in American monetary history. During his first term (1867-1869), he oversaw post-Civil War coinage adjustments; during his second (1873-1878), he managed the implementation of the Coinage Act of 1873 and the response to the subsequent silver agitation. His portrait on a silver Assay Commission medal — struck in the very metal whose political status he had helped determine — carries a layered historical significance. Silver strikings of the Linderman portrait medal were produced in very limited numbers for presentation to senior officials and the Mint Cabinet. These pieces represent the premium expression of the Mint's tribute to one of its most influential directors, a man whose legacy was simultaneously celebrated by gold standard advocates and vilified by silver partisans.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-19 (1879) in silver. "H.R. Linderman" portrait. Effectively a memorial piece following Linderman's death in January 1879. Silver strikings are scarce.

Cross References

PCGS #972473; JK-AC-19; 1879 Assay Commission