(c.1868) Medal JAB-32 Copper Grant - Our Next President

Coin Details

Auction Record

$660 MS64BN 11-30-2021 Stack's Bowers

Description

This copper medal from circa 1868, cataloged as JAB-32, features Ulysses S. Grant with the inscription "Our Next President," produced during Grant's 1868 presidential campaign. John Adams Bolen created this piece as the victorious Union commanding general was running for the presidency, capitalizing on Grant's enormous popularity following the end of the Civil War. Grant won the 1868 election in a landslide, carrying 26 of 34 states. Campaign medals and tokens were important tools of political engagement in the nineteenth century, when voters demonstrated their partisan allegiance by wearing or displaying such items. Bolen's Grant campaign medal, struck in copper in his typical limited quantities, served both as political advocacy and as a collectible piece of die-sinker's art. The "Our Next President" inscription proved prophetic, and the medal documents the moment of transition when Grant moved from military hero to political candidate, a trajectory that echoed the earlier campaigns of Washington, Jackson, and Harrison.

Rarity Notes

Rare. JAB-32 copper. Bolen campaign medals are scarce, approximately 25-50 pieces struck. Grant campaign items are actively collected.

Cross References

PCGS #523003; JAB-32; John Adams Bolen; Grant; Our Next President; 1868 Campaign; Copper