American Arts Commemorative Series medallions
The series was proposed by North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms after the United States Department of the Treasury began selling portions of the national stockpile of gold.
President Jimmy Carter signed the bill containing the authorizing legislation into law on November 10, 1978, despite objections from Treasury officials.
The series sold poorly, prompting critics to blame the involved process by which they were first marketed, and the fact that they were medallions rather than coins.
On April 19, 1978, the United States Treasury Department announced that a portion of the national gold stockpile was to be auctioned through the General Services Administration (GSA) beginning on May 23, 1978, in the form of 400 troy ounces (12 kg) bars.
[3] In a hearing on August 25, 1978, before the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Helms said: In the first year after enactment the bill would require that the first 1.5 million ounces of gold sold be made into medallions.
Iowa representative Jim Leach proposed that the series feature designs honoring American artists.
He noted that the House Subcommittee on Historic Preservation received many suggestions of individuals worthy to appear on the dollar coin that had previously been proposed.
[5] He also noted that all United States coinage until then had depicted individuals whose principal contributions had been in government and politics rather than the arts.
Other fields might well be chosen, or other people than I have selected within the field of arts; but the point I want to emphasize is this: while our coinage is and should be devoted to honoring those who have contributed to our political heritage, medals offer us an opportunity to honor those who have contributed to our cultural development, our economic achievements, our technological expertise, and other accomplishments which reflect the wide dimensions of our democratic society.
[5] The subjects designated were painter Grant Wood, contralto singer Marian Anderson, authors Mark Twain and Willa Cather, musician Louis Armstrong, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, poet Robert Frost, sculptor Alexander Calder, actress Helen Hayes and author John Steinbeck.
[8] The Treasury lacked money to put the medallions into production,[8] so an appropriations bill was passed giving the department the necessary funding.
[9] Sales were poor, and in September 1980, the Mint announced that a private firm, commodity traders J. Aron and Company, would market the medallions.
[15] In October 1980, Luis Vigdor, assistant vice-president for bullion and numismatic operations of Manfra, Tordella & Brookes, then one of the largest coin firms in the country, compared the medallions and the efforts to market them unfavorably to the South African Krugerrand.
[16] Commenting on the poor sale of the medallions, assistant director of marketing for the Mint Francis Frere said in 1984: "it just hasn't worked.
