1881 Bronze Medal J-PR-20, James A. Garfield

Coin Details

Description

The 1881 bronze medal of James A. Garfield, cataloged as Julian PR-20, was struck at the United States Mint in the year of Garfield's assassination. This standard-format bronze presidential medal was produced as part of the Mint's ongoing series of presidential portrait medals, but its 1881 date imbues it with memorial significance, as Garfield was shot on July 2 and died on September 19 of that year after weeks of agonizing decline. James Abram Garfield was the twentieth President, inaugurated on March 4, 1881. A former Union Army general who distinguished himself at the Battle of Chickamauga, Garfield served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives before winning the 1880 Republican nomination as a dark horse candidate on the thirty-sixth ballot. His brief presidency was consumed by a bitter patronage dispute with New York Senator Roscoe Conkling over control of the lucrative New York Customs House. The obverse features Garfield's portrait with his full beard, the last president to have been born in a log cabin in Orange Township, Ohio. The reverse carries the standard presidential inscription. Julian PR-20 represents the primary bronze issue in the Garfield presidential medal series, distinguished from the smaller 25mm Julian PR-43 format and the dual Lincoln-Garfield memorial medals (PR-40 and PR-41) that were struck the following year.

Rarity Notes

Standard U.S. Mint bronze presidential medal. Struck in the year of Garfield's assassination, giving it inherent historical significance. Readily available in the numismatic market.

Cross References

PCGS #924197; Julian PR-20