1981 American Arts Commemorative Medallion - Willa Cather

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,300 MS66 02-21-2021 eBay

Description

The 1981 American Arts Gold Medallion featuring Willa Cather is a half-troy-ounce gold piece honoring the Nebraska novelist whose spare, luminous prose elevated the American frontier experience into literature of permanent value. Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) drew upon her childhood on the Great Plains to produce novels including "O Pioneers!" (1913), "My Antonia" (1918), and "Death Comes for the Archbishop" (1927), winning the Pulitzer Prize for "One of Ours" in 1923. The obverse features a portrait of Cather rendered with classical restraint, capturing the strong-featured face that peers from her author photographs. The inscription WILLA CATHER and the date 1981 flank the portrait. The reverse evokes the prairie landscapes that pervade Cather's fiction — the vast open spaces of the Nebraska Divide where her immigrant characters struggled against the elements and found meaning in the rhythms of agricultural life. HALF TROY OUNCE OF GOLD identifies the precious metal content. Cather was a deliberate and appropriate choice for the American Arts series, representing literature that was distinctly rooted in the American experience while achieving universal artistic recognition. Her novels portrayed the Czech, Scandinavian, and French-Canadian immigrants who settled the Plains with a sympathy and specificity that permanently enriched American letters. The Willa Cather medallion, like its companion Mark Twain one-ounce piece, was produced at the West Point Bullion Depository. Sales continued to decline in 1981, confirming the pattern that would persist throughout the program's five-year run.

Rarity Notes

Total mintage approximately 97,331 pieces. Further sales decline from the 1980 half-ounce issue. Surviving examples are moderately scarce as a result of both low production and subsequent Mint melting.

Cross References

PCGS #20502; NGC #724003; Public Law 95-630; Swoger D1981-2