1885 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-28, Silver, Chester A. Arthur

Coin Details

Description

The 1885 Assay Commission medal JK-AC-28 in silver is a precious-metal presentation striking of the final Arthur portrait design, concluding the three-year Arthur sub-series in the Assay Commission catalog. The silver composition provides a fitting conclusion to the Arthur sequence, creating a premium version of the capstone medal that honors the 21st President's service and the commission members who received it. The silver JK-AC-28 was struck during a period of growing public awareness of numismatic collecting. The popularity of Mint products among collectors was increasing throughout the 1880s, and the Assay Commission medals benefited from this trend as knowledgeable numismatists sought to assemble complete runs of the annual issues. Silver strikings, with their limited production and precious-metal appeal, were particularly coveted. Arthur's three-year run in silver (JK-AC-26 through JK-AC-28) provides collectors with a matched set of presidential medals in precious metal, each year showing subtle artistic evolution in Charles Barber's treatment of the same subject. The final silver piece caps a sequence that documents not just a presidency but an engraver's growing mastery of portraiture in the service of institutional commemoration.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-28 (1885) in silver. Third and final "Chester A. Arthur" portrait. Silver strikings are scarce presentation pieces.

Cross References

PCGS #518433; JK-AC-28; 1885 Assay Commission