VOCABULARY TERM: SOUVENIR MEDAL

Souvenir Medal. A medallic memento; a medal issued in honor of a public celebration or event. The occasion of the event can be anything: an anniversary, dedication, fair, exposition, coronation, inauguration, launching or any such public celebration. The medals issued upon the completion of a public project – roadway, bridge, tunnel, dam or such – all fall within this category. Souvenir medals are often sold to the public or given to some participants. They fall within the large class of commemorative medals, and become permanent historical mementos of the celebration.

For the original owners, possession of such a medal recalls their personal involvement – their participation, or attendance, or sheer endorsement of the event, its sponsor, or its subject matter. Souvenir medals are significant for the historical information they provide. We know of the date of the first step on the moon by man, or the delayed coronation of King Edward VII or the completion of the Alaskan pipeline – or thousands of events in history – because of permanent medallic memorials issued for these events.

Souvenir medals – like all commemorative medals – are a broad category of medallic art, in contrast to those award, prize or recognition medals given to recipients, or to medals of purely artistic or commercial nature. Souvenir medals are also very similar to historical medals because they almost always bear a date. Likewise they include all the medals known as so-called dollars.

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Souvenir Medal (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/516781)

 

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web