1901 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-45, Silver, William McKinley

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,200 MS62 03-25-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

The 1901 Assay Commission medal JK-AC-45 in silver features the fourth and final McKinley portrait, struck during the year of the President's assassination. McKinley was shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901, and died eight days later. Theodore Roosevelt succeeded to the presidency. The silver JK-AC-45, produced before the assassination, carries the weight of historical tragedy similar to the Garfield memorial medal of 1882. McKinley's final Assay Commission medal preserves his image as he appeared before the violent act that ended his life and his presidency. The silver composition creates a premium memorial piece that honors both the fallen President and the commission members who received it. McKinley's four appearances on Assay Commission medals (JK-AC-42 through JK-AC-45) document the presidency that formalized the gold standard and presided over American emergence as a world power. The final silver striking serves as both a numismatic capstone and an inadvertent memorial to a President whose assassination shocked the nation and ushered in the Progressive Era under Theodore Roosevelt.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-45 (1901) in silver (AR). Final "William McKinley" portrait from the year of his assassination. Silver strikings are scarce.

Cross References

PCGS #514225; JK-AC-45; 1901 Assay Commission