A Golden Offer

Only 10 gold examples of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1945 inauguration medal exist, and Stack’s Bowers Galleries will offer and publicly display one of them in its 2025 Summer Global Showcase Auction. This is the first time the 1945 Roosevelt inauguration medal will be displayed and offered for sale. Though 3,500 bronze copies were available to the public, only 10 examples were struck in gold, primarily for government officials and world leaders. The auction will take place at the firm’s Costa Mesa, California, headquarters on August 25-30 and September 2-5. Individuals can view all lots, including the Roosevelt medal, at the ANA’s World’s Fair of Money® (to be held in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, August 19-23) and in Costa Mesa and New York City. Stack’s Bowers Galleries is still accepting consignments for the sale.

“Each of the gold 1945 inaugural medals is a national treasure,” said Jeff Ambio, vice president of numismatics for Stack’s Bowers Galleries. “Produced during the final chapter of World War II, they are exceedingly rare, saw limited distribution to government officials and world leaders, and are directly linked to the Yalta Conference that helped define the postwar world.” Those who received examples of the gold medal include British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden, Soviet Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union Secretary of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Molotov, King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, Ambassador Joseph E. Davies, and U.S. Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross.

The Roosevelt medal on offer is from Mint Director Ross’s estate. The three examples presented to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library are still in the library’s collection. The other six specimens have never resurfaced, and it is uncertain whether they still exist.