102405 | UNITED STATES. Lincoln/Grant/McKinley gilt copper Medal.

102405  |  UNITED STATES. Lincoln/Grant/McKinley gilt copper Medal. Issued 1900 for the Republican convention (44mm, 25.38 g, 6h).

 

LINCOLN GRANT McKINLEY, jugate busts left of Lincoln, Grant, and McKinley / PHILADELPHIA / NATIONAL / REPUBLICAN / CONVENTION / JUNE 19th 1900 in five lines; scrolled border with each Republican presidential nominee since the party's founding in 1856 (Frémont) through its most recent in 1896 (McKinley); the noted inverted doubling gives an enticing and most unusual ghosting effect. Edge: Plain.

 

King 446. Choice Mint State. Extremely brilliant and vibrant, with evidence of nearly 180º double striking on the reverse; a minor dark spot to the left of and above McKinley's ear is noted for completeness (see video). A very rare offering in gilt, and even that much more so in such an elevated state of preservation and with such a dramatic striking error upon the reverse.

 

The 1900 presidential election saw a re-match of 1896, with the Republican William McKinley pitted against the Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Before the general election, however, was the Republican Party nominating convention, which was held in Philadelphia in June. McKinley, the sitting president, was renominated by acclamation, with New York's governor, Theodore Roosevelt, nominated as his vice president. This medal, celebrating the re-nominated McKinley, features his bust along with two other previous stars of the Republican party—Abraham Lincoln, the party's first winner (and two-time winner, at that) of the presidency, and Ulysses S. Grant, the party's first candidate to serve a full two terms, as Lincoln was assassinated very early in his second term. In a twist of fate, McKinley would also win a second term later in 1900, but, like Lincoln, would also fall to an assassin's bullet early in that second term, being succeeded by Roosevelt.

 

Upload: 1 May 2023.