Roman Catholicism Medal
by Ralph J. Menconi
The second medal in the series issued in 1971
The
"Great World Religions" or
"Great Religions of the World" series is one of
my favorite medal series by Presidential Art Medals, Inc.
As told by Dr. David Poling in his book Why Billy Graham?,
the indomitable Ralph J. Menconi had just completed a set of stained-glass windows
in a Lutheran Church in Pleasantville, New York. He had developed a deep interest in the symbolism of religion and man's
search for God. Now he was anxious to get started on a medal series that would focus on religions and the personalities that
shaped religious history: Moses, Paul, Luther, and others. The series would be manufactured by the Medallic Art Company and
marketed through Presidential Art Medals of Vandalia, Ohio.
Buddhism Medal
by Ralph J. Menconi
The sixth medal in the series issued in 1971
Menconi's objective was to convey
"the strong points of each tradition, both its feelings and its history, its spirit
and its heritage" to followers of the other religions. While Menconi himself was a Roman Catholic, there was a deep
oecumenical spirit behind this project.
Religion has of course always been a difficult topic. While a medal series that appealed to the faithful of many different
religions seemed a worthy project as well as a smart business idea, there was also the risk of offending people of faith by
using incorrect or offensive imagery. To treat all religions justly and reduce the risks of offending an entire segment of
the population in one fell swoop, Menconi asked Dr. Poling to select an advisory board to assist with design decisions and
make sure that religious symbols were used appropriately. The board was called the "International Advisory Commission
of the Great Religions of the World Art Medals Series" (put that on a business card!) and consisted of:
Commissioners
- Dr. David Poling
- Dr. Billy Graham
- The Reverend Fulton J. Sheen
- Dr. Norman Vincent Peale
- Erwin D. Canham
- George Romney
- Dr. Hans W. Florin
- Dr. Mohammed Kamel Hussein
- Rev. George Marshall
- The Reverend Canon Edward N. West
- Dr. A. Dale Fiers
Consultants
- David Ben-Gurion
- Dr. Charles Malik
- Dr. Firuz Kazemzadeh
Islam Medal
by Ralph J. Menconi
The fifteehth medal in the series issued in 1972
The full series was supposed to encompass 25 religions or religious organizations. The medals were
to be released at a rate of one per month starting in 1971. Unfortunately, Menconi died in 1972 before
he could complete the full series that was so important to him. Only 16 of the planned 25 medals had
been designed at the time of his untimely death.
Adlai S. Hardin
completed two more medals which were issued in 1974 and 1975, bringing the total number of medals in
the series to 18. It's a shame that the series was not completed to include the missing world religions.
As it stands, it looks very strange to have so many Christian faiths included while major world religions
such as Hinduism or Taoism are missing.
There is very little information available on how many medals were actually struck. The collateral
for the series states only that the medals are issued in unnumbered bronze, antiqued silver limited
to 10,000, and gold-filled (1/10th, 14kt.) limited to 500. Whether that many medals were actually sold
is not known. I suspect that the numbers fell far short of the authorized mintages because the silver
and gold-filled variants do not come up often at auction at all.
Collecting Great Religions of the World
For the collector, the Great Religions series is attractive for the following reasons:
- The medals are highly appealing and very decorative. Taking a page from the Society of
Medalists playbook, Medallic Art Company played with patina to go beyond the traditional
"bronze plus tan" approach. Seeing the whole series with all its different finishes laid
out next to each other is an aesthetically pleasing experience.
- In general, the bronze medals can be bought for $20 to $30, sometimes even for less. If you are
savvy and take your time, you can definitely collect the complete series (not including variants)
for around $400 or less.
- The medals have held their value well over time.
- Once you have completed your basic collection, you can branch out into the variants.
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
- Take a look at all the medals in the other tabs of this page. There are two tabs that
lead to pictures: Medals and Visual. The Medals
tab leads to a paged list (by default groups of 10) that shows both sides and provides access to documentation and
details. The Visual tab leads to a grid of obverse medal images. From there you can easily identify a
medal visually and then click through to the detail information.
- 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. At this point, I have all the bronzes I know of but I'm always interested in adding silver
or gold-filled variants to my collection.
If I don't have a picture for a medal, I probably don't own the medal and I would be interested in buying it.
- Check out the links in the Resources tab.
- Support this site with a small donation if you appreciate it as a resource and want to help me with hosting and bandwidth costs.