World War II

PMWWII-1: Winston Churchill - Dunkirk
by E. R. Grove
The first medal in the series issued in 1966.

The World War II series was published by Presidential Art Medals, Inc. of Vandalia, Ohio and struck by the Medallic Art Company in New York. The designer and sculptor for all 30 medals was Edward R. Grove. The medals measure 1 3/4 inches (45mm) in diameter and were struck in Bronze and Silver. While the number of bronze medals was not limited, the silver medals were limited to 2,500 per issue. The original retail price was $4 per bronze and $20 per silver medal.

Most of the medals have a head of state, a general, admiral or important war hero on the obverse and an associated war motif on the reverse.

Collecting the World War II Series

For the collector, Presidential Art Medals' World War II series is attractive for many reasons:

• World War II remains an active area of interest for many collectors. This means that the medals are appealing not just to medal collectors but also to World War II collectors.
• The medals trade in the affordable $20 to $40 range. If you are savvy and take your time, you can definitely build a complete collection (not including silver variants) for around $600.
• While not traded as actively as the Society of Medalists series or the Presidents series, there is a fair amount of trading at almost all times, so it won't take you forever to build or dispose of your collection by dealer or auction.
• The medals have held their value well over time.

But most of all, the medals are really enjoyable and that's of course the only reason you should collect them. If you hold them for a long time, they probably won't be a bad investment either.

Next Steps

1. Take a look at all the medals in the other tabs of this page. There are two tabs that lead to pictures: Medals and Variants. The Medals tab leads to a list of medal images, both obverse and reverse. The Variants tab leads to a grid of obverse medal images. To my knowledge, there are no finish or size variants for this series.
2. Contact me if you are interested in buying or selling medals or want to help me improve the site. I am always interested in buying to complete or improve my own collection. Sometimes I have duplicates that I would be willing to sell. If you cannot or will not sell medals that I still need, at least share your high-quality pictures so I can complete the Variants display section. If I don't have a picture for a medal, I don't have the medal in my collection and I would be interested in buying it.
3. Check out the links in the Resources tab. Currently, there might not be all too many but that changes as I become aware of new information.
4. Support this site with a small donation if you appreciate this site and want to help me with hosting and bandwidth costs.

Community

5/9/2014  -  A collector has notified me that she has a very nice complete and framed set of the bronze medals available for sale. Let me know if you are interested and I will get you in touch with each other. I have seen images and it is truly a handsome set.