U.S. Representative from Minnesota Ole Juulson Kvale, a Norwegian American, wanted a commemorative for the centennial celebrations of the Restauration journey.

Sculpted by Buffalo nickel designer James Earle Fraser, the medals recognize those immigrants' Viking heritage, depicting a warrior of that culture on the obverse and his vessel on the reverse.

[2] According to what The New York Times deemed "bacchanalian" legends of its passage, the expedition anchored off an English coastal village and traded ashore some of its rum, only to depart in haste when local officials took an interest.

[3] Off Madeira, expedition leader Lars Larsen is said to have fished a cask from the sea, which proved to be filled with rare wine that was thoroughly enjoyed by those aboard.

[4] Initially settling on land they purchased near the shore of Lake Ontario, about 35 miles (56 km) from Rochester, New York, the passengers were the first of many organized groups of Norwegian Americans who crossed the Atlantic, especially to the northern and western United States.

[10] Commemorative coins for ethnic heritage groups were unlikely to pass Congress at that time due to the controversy caused by the 1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentenary half dollar, seen by some as Protestant propaganda.

[12] On February 3, Kvale and his son Paul met with Treasury officials, bringing a draft bill authorizing the Bureau of the Mint to strike commemorative medals for the Restauration anniversary.

Acting Mint Director Mary M. O'Reilly and Treasury Undersecretary Garrard Winston were dubious about the idea of striking silver medals that would be between the quarter and half dollar in size.

O'Reilly and Winston favored the idea, and after Congressman Kvale met with legal counsel to the Treasury and other officials, he was assured of the department's full support.

[7] Kvale also successfully lobbied the Post Office Department for the issuance of commemorative stamps; he told Third Assistant Postmaster General Warren I. Glover that, in a broader sense, the medal recognized the North American explorations of the Vikings around the year 1000.

"In view of the importance of this celebration to the many descendants of the Norse immigrants into this country, and through these to the State of Minnesota, which is officially sponsoring the event, and to the great Northwest, which they have been such a large factor in developing, the committee believes that such a medal is fitting and proper and that this bill should be enacted into law.

[22] Kvale hoped that his friend and fellow Minnesotan, Senator Henrik Shipstead, could persuade sculptor Gutzon Borglum to design the medal for no fee or a nominal one.

Buffalo nickel designer James Earle Fraser, a member of the Commission of Fine Arts, was engaged for a fee of $1,500, about the usual for a commemorative coin.

[24] Sketches had been printed in the Minneapolis Journal on March 29, provoking some reaction from those who felt that the design implied that Norwegians still dressed like Vikings in 1825, and that the date, 1000, should be moved from reverse to obverse to eliminate the confusion.

[23] The obverse of the medal shows a Norwegian Viking chieftain who has just come ashore from his ship (seen behind him) and is armed for war, with horned helmet, shield, sword, and svard (dagger).

[5] Julie Shultz, in her journal article on the 1925 celebration, finds it significant that the medal has nothing to do with the arrival of the Restauration in an already-formed United States, but symbolizes ethnic pride in the early explorers.

The reason for the two varieties is uncertain; Swiatek theorizes that the Norse-American Centennial Commission might not have liked how the thin ones looked, or might have wanted collectors to buy two medals.

"[3] President Coolidge was present; he called the Viking explorers "these sons of Thor and Odin", and told attendees, "the pledge of the Norwegian people has never yet gone unredeemed.

Not all members of his board were enthusiastic about the idea, but between 60 and 75 of these larger medals were struck, likely in December at the Philadelphia Mint, with Kvale undertaking to purchase any that were not sold.