1983 American Arts Commemorative Medallion - Alexander Calder

Coin Details

Auction Record

$960 MS68 06-01-2022 Heritage Auctions

Description

The 1983 American Arts Gold Medallion featuring Alexander Calder is a one-troy-ounce gold piece honoring the sculptor and artist who invented the mobile and transformed three-dimensional art in the twentieth century. Alexander Calder (1898-1976) was born into a family of sculptors — both his father and grandfather created public monuments — but pursued an entirely original path that merged engineering, kinetics, and abstract art into a new sculptural vocabulary. His hanging mobiles, standing stabiles, and monumental public installations grace museums, plazas, and airports worldwide. The obverse presents a portrait of Calder, whose burly frame and genial temperament made him a beloved figure in the international art world. The inscription ALEXANDER CALDER and the date 1983 accompany the portrait. The reverse incorporates elements of Calder's artistic language — abstract shapes and forms that evoke the balanced, kinetic compositions for which he was celebrated. The interplay of curved and angular elements references the mobile form that Calder pioneered and that Marcel Duchamp named. ONE TROY OUNCE OF GOLD appears around the border. The 1983 issues represent the penultimate year of the American Arts program, by which time both the Mint and Congress recognized the initiative as unsuccessful. Calder was a fitting subject despite the program's commercial failure — his art embodied the same spirit of American innovation and self-confident originality that the program sought to celebrate. His "La Grande Vitesse" (1969) in Grand Rapids, Michigan was the first public sculpture funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, inaugurating the federal program that brought monumental art to cities across the country.

Rarity Notes

Total mintage approximately 74,571 pieces — among the lowest one-ounce mintages in the series. The combination of low production and Mint melting makes the 1983 Calder one of the scarcer issues for collectors.

Cross References

PCGS #20506; NGC #724007; Public Law 95-630; Swoger D1983-1