1930 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-74, Bronze, Herbert Hoover

Coin Details

Auction Record

$780 SP65 08-23-2024 Stack's Bowers

Description

The 1930 Assay Commission medal in bronze, cataloged as JK-AC-74, features President Herbert Hoover on the obverse. Hoover, a Stanford-educated mining engineer who had earned international fame for his humanitarian relief efforts during and after World War I, took office in March 1929 with enormous public optimism — only to see the stock market crash seven months later, inaugurating the Great Depression that would define and destroy his presidency. The 1930 commission met in the early months of the economic downturn, when the full scope of the catastrophe was not yet apparent and many economists still predicted a quick recovery. The Assay Commission proceedings examined coinage from a year of sharply declining Mint production as commerce contracted and the demand for new coins fell. Hoover's portrait on the medal captures the confident public servant before the Depression had fully eroded his reputation.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-74, bronze (AE) composition. First Hoover Assay Commission medal. Standard commission distribution. Produced during the early stages of the Great Depression.

Cross References

PCGS #972639; JK-AC-74; Herbert Hoover; 1930 Assay Commission