1969-P Silver Medal D1969-3a, Memphis Sesqui

Coin Details

Auction Record

$85 MS63 01-22-2023 eBay

Description

Swoger catalog number D1969-3a. This silver medal was struck at the United States Mint in Philadelphia to commemorate the sesquicentennial of the city of Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis was founded on May 22, 1819, by John Overton, James Winchester, and future President Andrew Jackson on the Fourth Chickasaw Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The city was named after the ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile, reflecting the founders' classical ambitions for their Mississippi River port. By its 150th anniversary in 1969, Memphis had become a major center of American music and culture, home to Beale Street, Sun Studio where Elvis Presley and other rock pioneers recorded, and the Stax Records soul music label. The city was also the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, just a year before this sesquicentennial celebration. The Swoger catalog (D-series), compiled by Tom Swoger, documents modern U.S. Mint commemorative medals from 1956 onward.

Rarity Notes

Silver composition Memphis sesquicentennial medal. Produced by the U.S. Mint for public sale. Exact mintage not separately reported.

Cross References

PCGS #76032; Swoger D1969-3a