Finding the Value of an Unique JFK Commemorative Medal

CM from Santa Barbara sends me a 61.7 gram 22kt gold commemorative medal of the Life of John F. Kennedy 1917-1963. The Medallic Art Company of NY struck this medal and marked it with the artist’s name Ralph J. Menconi, for Presidential Art Medals. This type of metal work isn’t under the classification of numismatics, coins and paper money, but has the interesting category of exonumia, such as medals, and metal commemorative tokens.

CM did quite a bit of research for me, so let me report what he  already found out about this medal. He called the manufacturer of this piece, the Medallic Art Company, and learned they only struck two of these in gold. The JFK Library has one, which was in the collection of Mrs. Kennedy Onassis, and someone close to the Kennedy family, CM says, received the other.

Further research revealed that in 2014 in Fort Worth, TX, Lone Star Auctions sold a 22kt gold Kennedy Commemorative metal made by Medallic Art Co. received from the Treasury of the State of Alabama. Looks to be the same design, by the picture on the auction website. This one is a mystery. I found there were eight online bids beginning at $1,550, and “Hamid” won the auction with a purchase price of $2,000. CM writes me that in his opinion, this buyer purchased it for the gold value and not the historic or rarity value. Interestingly, this medal ended up in Alabama, and sold in Texas.

Thinking some high political figure might have owned this, I found George Wallace was Governor of Alabama (couldn’t be HIS, me thinks!).  Joseph Lister was the US Senator from Alabama. Couldn’t have been his either, as I find he opposed JFK’s treatment around the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Remember, CM believes the existing medals of 22k were owned by only the closest people to JFK. So how did this end up at a “repo” sale?

So what is the value of CM’s medal?

We need to consider many VALUES here:

• The artistic value. The sculptor of this medal, Ralph J. Menconi, was named “Sculptor of the Year” by the American Numismatic Association in 1970, because of the 36 medals he created of American presidents. He was also a noted bronze artist.
• The gold value, the “scrap” value of two troy ounces of 22k gold, which as I write this is $2,338.42.
• The rarity value. CM read about extreme JFK medal collectors and learned that no valuation opinion issued by the makers as the 22kt gold medal wasn’t struck for the public.
• The historic value. This is the only medal I found which features notable imagery of the lifetime of JFK, such as three important life events: an image of PT 109 dated from 1941-1945 when he served as a lieutenant in the Navy, earning a Purple Heart, as well as the Great Seal of Massachusetts, the Commonwealth for which he was a Senator from 1946-1960, then the Great Seal of the United States, representing his presidency from 1961-1963.

Finally, the issue I face often when a work of art is unique or has never been sold.

Every work of art has about eight distinct characteristics: size, medium, composition, historical era, placement in the creator’s oeuvre, style, symbolism or meaning, subject, shape, and color. So we appraisers meet as many of these criterion as we possibly can when we look for a comparable object’s sale. We DO need to find something that has really sold, not the ‘buy it now eBay price’ asked. By the way, CM made certain the medal was in fact officially 22k gold. He took it to the Clark County Museum Administrator Mark Patton-Hall and asked Mr. Patton-Hall if he knew about this medal. I think CM figured if anyone knew about gold coins it would be a historical scholar from Nevada.

A sale such as a US mint 1980’s strike of a one ounce 14k Mark Twain commemorative medal, as a series of 10 Notable American Artist from the US Mint, selling for $1365.46, is NOT a good comparable. In fact it’s an example of a sale which in practically every way does not answer any of those eight areas of similarity above.

I found CM a very good comparable sale. We know JFK wasn’t only the youngest president but an arts-loving President. At least Jackie sure was, remember she arranged for the Mona Lisa to take a TransAtlantic cruise to visit the US. History was made when the Kennedy Center was named after him, and opened officially by president Nixon on November 8, 1971. This albeit posthumous event was significant to his political history and life, just as, perhaps, the notable events mentioned on JFK’s Life memorial medal.

Thus here’s a good comparable sale for CM’s medal

The sale by John McInnis Auctions, called “The Legends” Auction, Session II, in 2013, of the Medallic Art Company’s 2½ inch diameter medal celebrating the Kennedy Center opening. The medal designed by equally important a sculptor to CM’s medal, Paul Jennewein. Although not 22k, this coin is 14k, (I couldn’t find any Medallic 22k medals anywhere) and is a little heavier than CM’s medal, which still makes it a good comparable sale, as CM’s is a higher value medium. Note that if CM’s medal were to be melted, it wouldn’t be worth more than $3000. Yet this Kennedy Center Gold Medal sold for approximately $10,000, a representative of the auction told me. Therefore I am secure in saying CM, there’s a way to find a value for ALMOST ALL the aspects of your medal, and I think it is $10,000.