Medallic Art Company

Medallic Art Company, Ltd. based in Dayton, Nevada was at one time "America’s oldest and largest private mint" and specialized in making academic awards, maces, medallions, along with chains of office and universities medals for schools. After going bankrupt in 2018, the American Numismatic Society purchased their significant archive of art medals, dies, die shells, plaster casts, galvanos, photographic archives, and other important cultural material. The Society has launched an initiative, the MACO Project, to identify and publish this material to make it available to researchers.

History

Henri Weil, "a highly respected French sculptor living in New York City," founded the Medallic Art Company in 1903.Medallic Art Company Ltd
"The History of Medallic Art Company"
, ''Medallic Art Company Ltd. website'', 2004. Retrieved on September 9, 2007. Henri, along with his brother Felix, worked at Deitsch Brothers, a company that made die-struck ornaments for woman's handbags. When the styles of handbags changed, the Weil brothers repurposed the presses to make medals and purchased Medallic Art Company from Deitsch. One of its first commissions was the ''Hudson-Fulton Medal'' of the Circle of Friends of the Medallion in 1909.

The Medallic Art Company was originally located in Manhattan, New York and moved to Danbury, Connecticut in 1972, Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1991 then to Dayton, Nevada in 1997 where it operated a facility.

In August 1971, Joseph B. Hartzog, Jr., director of the National Park Service, awarded a contract to the Kalispell, Montana, firm of Roche Jaune Inc. to produce a series of 37 medals, called the “National Parks Centennial Series”, that depict a scene in each of America's national parks. The medals, designed by Frank Hagel, were struck by the Medallic Art Company which was still operating in New York City at the time.

In July 2009, Medallic Art Company wa
purchased
by Northwest Territorial Mint. The Northwest Territorial Mint declared bankruptcy in April 2016; in 2018, after protracted bankruptcy proceedings, Medallic Art’s “''tradename, website, customer lists, archives, tools, specific machinery, certain company owned Medallic dies and other property''” were purchased by Medalcraft Mint, Inc. (Western District of Washington (Seattle) Bankruptcy Petition #: 16-11767-CMA). Medallic Art’s archives and about 20,000 pre-1998 dies were acquired from the Northwest Territorial Mint 2018 bankruptcy by the American Numismatic Society, a New York City-based institution dedicated to researching, curating, and educating about coins and medallic arts.
The Medallic Art Company made custom 2D and 3D medals and "has produced some of the world’s most distinguished awards such as the Pulitzer Prize, the Peabody Award, the Newbery and Caldecott medals, and the Inaugural medals for eleven U.S. Presidents."Alexander, David T. "The Society of Medalists: America's Premier Art Medal Series", The MCA Advisory, volume 8, number 4, April 2005, page 8. The Medallic Art Company also struck medals for two important medallic art series in the United States: the Circle of Friends of the Medallion and The Society of Medalists.Reed, Fred
"Enduring Society of Medalists First Issue Continues to Attract Collectors"
''Professional Coin Grading Service website'', September 9, 1999. Retrieved on September 9, 2007.

See also

*Medallic art
* Jules Edouard Roiné

Notes

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External links

Medallic Art Company Ltd. homepageProfessional Coin Grading Service: ''Medals Can Be Fine Art'' by Richard Giedroyc - February 24, 2000.
This article discusses Medallic Art.

Exonumia
Lyon County, Nevada
Manufacturing companies based in Nevada
Manufacturing companies established in 1903
American companies established in 1903