United States Mint Announces Designs for World War I Centennial Silver Medals

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint today revealed the obverse (heads) and reverse (tails) designs for five silver medals that will be issued in conjunction with the 2018 World War I Centennial Silver Dollar. Each medal, composed of 90 percent silver, pays homage to branches of the U.S. Armed Forces that were active in World War I. Design descriptions and the respective minting facilities are below.

World War I Centennial Army Medal – West Point Mint

The Army medal design depicts a soldier cutting through German barbed wire, while a second soldier aims a rifle amid a shattered landscape of broken trees and cratered earth. A shell explodes in the distance. The medal’s reverse design features the United States Army emblem, which was also in use during World War I, with the inscriptions “OVER THERE!,” “CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I,” “2018,” and “UNITED STATES ARMY.”

The obverse was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program (AIP) Designer Emily Damstra and sculpted by now retired United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart, who also designed and sculpted the reverse.

World War I Centennial Marine Corps Medal – San Francisco Mint

The Marine Corps medal’s obverse design depicts the aftermath of the Battle of Belleau Wood. One Marine stands guard as the other kneels to pay respect to the fallen. The inscription quotes a report to the American Expeditionary Force: “WOODS NOW U.S. MARINE CORPS ENTIRELY.” The medal’s reverse design features the World War I-era version of the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor emblem with the inscriptions “CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I,” “2018,” “OVER THERE!,” and “BATTLE OF BELLEAU WOOD.”

The obverse was designed by AIP Designer Chris Costello and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Michael Gaudioso. The reverse was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna.

World War I Centennial Navy Medal – Philadelphia Mint

The obverse design of the Navy medal depicts a U.S. Navy destroyer on escort duty after deploying a depth charge in defense of a convoy. Above the destroyer, kite balloons provide Navy personnel a platform to spot submarines and other dangers. The inscription “OVER THERE!” appears at the bottom of the design. The medal’s reverse design features an Officer’s Cap Device* used in World War I. Inscriptions are “UNITED STATES NAVY,” “2018,” and “CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I.” (*Note: An official, uniform seal of the United States Navy had not been adopted at the time of World War I.)

The obverse was designed by Chris Costello and sculpted by Michael Gaudioso, while the reverse was designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Renata Gordon.

World War I Centennial Air Service Medal – Denver Mint

The obverse of the Air Service medal design depicts the iconic SPAD XIII, a World War I fighter flown by many Americans and valued for its speed, strength, and firepower, viewed from the top and side. The inscription “SPAD XIII” identifies the aircraft. The medal’s reverse design features the Military Aviator Insignia with the inscriptions “CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I,” “2018,” “OVER THERE!,” “AIR SERVICE,” and “AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES.”

This obverse was designed by AIP Designer Ronald D. Sanders and sculpted by Joseph Menna, who also designed and sculpted the reverse.

World War I Centennial Coast Guard Medal – Philadelphia Mint

The obverse of the Coast Guard medal depicts a lifeboat from the Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Seneca heading out in heavy seas toward the torpedoed steamship Wellington. The reverse design features the World War I-era Coast Guard emblem, with the inscriptions “CENTENNIAL OF WORLD WAR I,” “2018,” and “OVER THERE!” Both the obverse and reverse of the Coast Guard medal were designed and sculpted by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Phebe Hemphill.

Each silver medal will be paired with a World War I Centennial Silver Dollar and offered as a special set. These medals will not be available individually. Additional information about these sets will be available prior to their release in 2018.

United States Mint Unveils Winning Designs to be Featured on World War I Centennial Silver Dollar

WASHINGTON – The United States Mint unveiled the winning designs in the World War I Centennial 2018 Commemorative Coin Design Competition today. The unveiling took place during the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

LeRoy Transfield

The designs, by LeRoy Transfield of Orem, Utah, will be featured on the obverse (heads) and reverse (tails) of the World War I Centennial Silver Dollar scheduled for release next year.

“Our team at the U.S. Mint is proud to have the honor of crafting the coin that will commemorate the contributions and the history made by American men and women-of all walks of life-who bravely stepped forward 100 years ago to defend the interests of the nation and that of her allies,” said Thomas Johnson, Chief of the United States Mint’s Office of Corporate Communications, who spoke at the ceremony.

The obverse design, titled “Soldier’s Charge,” depicts an almost stone-like soldier gripping a rifle. Barbed wire twines in the lower right-hand side of the design. Inscriptions are “LIBERTY,” “1918,” “2018,” and “IN GOD WE TRUST.”

The wire design element continues onto the reverse design, titled “Poppies in the Wire,” which features abstract poppies mixed in with barbed wire. Inscriptions include “ONE DOLLAR,” “E PLURIBUS UNUM,” and “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

Now retired United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Don Everhart sculpted both designs.

Additional participants in the unveiling included Under Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, U.S. World War I Centennial Commission Chair Robert Dalessandro, and World War I re-enactors who unveiled the designs.

The World War I American Veterans Centennial Commemorative Coin Act (Public Law 113-212) authorizes the minting and issuance of not more than 350,000 silver dollars in commemoration of the centennial of America’s involvement in World War I. A surcharge of $10 for each coin sold is authorized to be paid to the United States Foundation for the Commemoration of the World Wars to assist the World War I Centennial Commission in commemorating the centenary of World War I.

Additional details about the World War I Centennial Silver Dollar will be announced prior to the coin’s release in 2018.

Credits

Whitman Publishing Releases New Q. David Bowers Book on Secrets of Smart Coin-Buying

(Pelham, Alabama) — Whitman Publishing announces the release of the newest book by Q. David Bowers. Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace: Secrets to Being a Smart Buyer debuted October 1, 2017. The 320-page full-color volume is available online (including at Whitman.com) and in bookstores and hobby shops nationwide for $14.95.

Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace shares Bowers’s more than 60 years of experience as a coin collector, professional dealer, award-winning author and researcher, and past president of the American Numismatic Association. He tells how to build a meaningful and significant coin collection on any budget, for your own pleasure, for investment, to share a fun hobby with your friends and family, and to explore history, art, commerce, technology, and many other areas of interest that are touched by coins.

Bowers’s goal, as he writes in his preface: “I would like you to become an expert collector of your choice of specialties: coins, tokens, and/or medals.” His case studies, personal recollections, and advice are accompanied by more than 800 coin and medal photographs, engravings, old cartoons, family photos, and other illustrations.

“I do not pretend to predict cycles for modern art or autographs or restorable Victorian houses,” Bowers writes, “but I have a lifetime of experience with rare coins, enabling me to predict (so far) various sea changes in that market.”

The book’s range is broad, with discussions of the minting process and distribution of coins; planchet quality, sharpness of details, and other eye-appeal factors; cleaning coins; elements of a coin’s value, including but not limited to grade; how to build a great collection; selecting quality and value in the marketplace; modern grading, including third-party certification; a discussion of every type of United States coin; colonial and early American coins and tokens; treasure and shipwreck coins; fair and exposition medals; commemorative coins; pattern coins; Civil War tokens; private and territorial gold coins; good-for tokens; collecting numismatic books; Hard Times tokens; encased postage stamps; Society of Medalist issues and other medals; and counterstamped coins. Bowers describes coin collecting and market trends dating back to the 1700s—a valuable study that gives insight to modern-day cycles. His final chapter is a “personal scrapbook” of his experiences in the coin market going back to the 1950s. Bowers tells of his start as a coin dealer at the age of 14, meeting and learning from famous coin dealers and collectors like John J. Pittman, Abe Kosoff, and John J. Ford Jr., the changes of the 1960s, numismatic trips to Europe, the U.S. Treasury hoards of silver dollars, developments in the markets, the rise of third-party grading, modern research and publishing, and countless other people, places, and events—all from his personal perspective, and told in his unique style, like sitting down after dinner with an old friend.

Kennth Bressett, longtime editor of the Guide Book of United States Coins (the “Red Book”), wrote the book’s foreword. “Yes, there are secrets to becoming a smart coin buyer and to enjoying a great coin collection,” he says. “Within this book you will learn and benefit from them all.”

Because Whitman Publishing is the Official Supplier of the American Numismatic Association, ANA members received 10% off when ordering the book directly from the publisher. ANA members can also borrow it for free from the Association’s Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library.

#   #   #
Inside the Rare Coin Marketplace: Secrets to Being a Smart Buyer
By Q. David Bowers; foreword by Kenneth Bressett
ISBN 0794845258. Softcover, 6 x 9 inches, 320 pages, full color. Retail $14.95 U.S.
URL: https://www.whitman.com/store/Inventory/Detail/Inside-the-Rare-Coin-Market-Secrets-to-Being-a-Smart-Buyer+0794845258

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