Artist Name

This medal's obverse bears modernized head of Arethusa, wearing winged and eagle-headed helmet with motto I WILL, facing left. Around, C · C · C · 50TH · ANNIVERSARY - 1919 1969; signed under truncation, © T · A · ROVELSTAD · 1968

The reverse bears the six Winter Hexagon stars and Betelgeuse in the middle. Around edge, CHICAGO · COIN · CLUB / DOCENDO DISCIMUS; inside stars, conjoined CCC logo surrounded by ORGANIZED 1919 · / INCORPORATED 1938; signed with (TR monogram)

The 50th anniversary of the Chicago Coin Club was celebrated January 8, 1969 with a banquet at Harding's Restaurant. The 77 in attendance had only one regret - that the bad weather kept many away. Trygve Rovelstad had been asked to create the corresponding anniversary medal and picked the head of his proposed Arethusa statue for the design. The medal's reverse was designed to be usable for future Club medals. Apparently, a quantity of nickel-silver and silver uniface medals were struck to have a cache of engravable medals on hand.

This is a very handsome medal and definitely one of the nicest Coin Club issues of modern times. Too many coin clubs issue medals with relatively boring busts of club presidents whereas this design is truly worthy of being immortalized on a medal.

The circular medal measures 57mm in diameter and was struck in bronze and silver by the Medallic Art Company of New York. The reported mintage is 182 pieces in bronze and 113 pieces in silver. The bronze medals originally cost $5 and the the silver medals $20 and were sold to members only.

References: MACo 1968-136