President Wilson in Manila
Private
Updated:
10/31/2015
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The Medals in this set were struck to commemorate the opening of the Philippine Mint in Manila on July 15, 1920.
The obverse is dominated by the portrait President Woodrow Wilson who is identified only as the “PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.” It was designed by George T. Morgan and is a slightly abbreviated version of the design found on the second Wilson inauguration medal in the United States Mint Presidential series. Although the portrait seen on these medals portrays a vibrant Woodrow Wilson, this was hardly the case on the day they were struck. He had suffered a serious stroke on October 2, 1919, which left him almost totally incapacitated. He was paralyzed on his left side, and only able to see out of a corner of his right eye.
The female figure on the reverse is often assumed to be Liberty, since this is a U.S. Mint medal. Occasionally, she is identified as Justice, probably because of the scales she is holding in her right hand. Neither of these are correct however. The reverse (also designed by Morgan) actually depicts "Juno Moneta" protecting and instructing a novice in the art and science of coin production. Juno Moneta is the Roman Goddess of Good Counsel, whose name means "Advisor" or "Warner", a very appropriate choice for a medal commemorating the opening of a mint.
According the The British Museum, "The origins of the modern English words 'money' and 'mint' lie in ancient Rome. In the period of the Roman Republic, from about 300 BC onwards, coins were made near the temple of the goddess Juno Moneta. It was located on the Capitol (the modern Campidoglio), the citadel of Rome. The goddess's name, Moneta ('Warner' or 'Reminder') eventually came to refer to the place where the coins were made, the 'mint', and to its product, 'money', both of which derive ultimately from the Latin word moneta."
The design of the medal is often credited to Clifford Hewitt. The medal was struck under the direction of Mr. Hewitt, who was responsible for the assembly and installation of the minting equipment. The design though was Morgan's, whose initial appears on the base of Wilson's bust and to the right of Juno's left foot.
3,700 of these medals were stuck in bronze, 2,200 in silver, and 5 (possibly more) in gold. Many, possibly even the majority of the silver and bronze medals were dumped into the Pacific Ocean in 1941 to keep them from falling into enemy hands when Japan invaded the Islands. These pieces were corroded by the exposure to sea water, and are often sold as “sea salvaged.” Many of those that escaped the ravages of the salt water have been cleaned, so pristine, unadulterated examples are relatively rare.
The gold medals were created as presentation pieces and as such were struck at least three times to fully strike up the detail. This multiple striking led to some slightly noticeable doubling of the devices. One of the five gold pieces was presented to President Woodrow Wilson (who was suffering from a stroke at the time), one to the U.S. Secretary of War, and three (or more) were retained in the Philippines and for many years presumed lost during World War II.
Three of the six certified Gold Medals have been graded by NGC and received grades of AU58, MS61 and the finest known at MS62. One had been mounted in a pendant and was graded by NCS as "UNC Details, Mount Removed," a fifth was graded by PCGS as AU55, and the sixth by ANACS as MS60 Details, Cleaned.
The MS62 specimen was sold by Heritage Auctions in April 2008 for $69,000 in their Signature Coin Auction #1104 as Lot 2531. It then reappeared three months later at the Heritage US Coin Signature Auction #1114 as Lot 2151 where it sold for $74,750.
The PCGS AU55 first appeared at the Lynn Knight auction of the Dr. Gregory Pineda collection in June 2012, and sold for $41,400. It then reappeared at the Heritage 2013 January 6-7 Ancient & World Coin Signature Auction - New York #3021 as Lot 22446 and sold for $44,062.50.
I have not been able to determine the provenance of any of these pieces, but it would be interesting to know which one had been given to President Wilson.
I feel it is very unlikely that I will ever obtain one of the Gold Medals. I do hope to upgrade the bronze medal one day if the opportunity presents itself, but for all intents and purposes, this set is now complete.
References
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• "Coins, Medals and Tokens of the Philippines 1728-1974" by Aldo P. Basso, second edition Bookman Printing House, Quezon City, 1975
• "Numismatic Notes And Monographs No. 8, The Mint of the Philippine Islands" by Gilbert S. Perez, The American Numismatic Association, New York, NY, 1921
• "United States Territorial Coinage for the Philippine Islands" by Neil Shafer, Whitman Publishing Company Racine, Wisconsin, 1961
Created: 3/8/2014
Rev. 10/26/2017
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President Wilson in Manila
By coin928
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