1896 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-40, Copper, Grover Cleveland

Coin Details

Description

The 1896 Assay Commission medal JK-AC-40 in copper features the Grover Cleveland portrait in the standard distribution metal during the year of the landmark Bryan-McKinley presidential campaign. Cleveland himself was not a candidate — his party had rejected him in favor of the silverite Bryan — making the 1896 medal one of the final pieces in the second Cleveland sub-series. The copper JK-AC-40 reached commission members during a year when the very purpose of their institution — verifying the metallic integrity of the nation's coinage — was being debated at the highest levels of national politics. Bryan's call for the free coinage of silver at a ratio of sixteen to one would have fundamentally altered the composition of the coins the commission tested, while McKinley's gold standard platform sought to maintain the existing monetary framework. Cleveland's departure from the presidency under such dramatic circumstances gives the 1896 copper medal a valedictory quality. The President who had fought harder than any other to preserve the gold standard was leaving office with the future of that standard in the hands of the voters. The Assay Commission medal he left behind captures the anxiety and uncertainty of a nation choosing its monetary destiny at the ballot box.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-40 (1896) in copper. "Grover Cleveland" portrait. Final full year of Cleveland's second term.

Cross References

PCGS #512382; JK-AC-40; 1896 Assay Commission