Famous Firsts by the Medallic Art Company
1903
First to import Janvier reducing machine into America. Read all about Janvier’s pantograph in Dick Johnson’s Blog.
1907First to completely reduce an entire medallic design by pantograph into a finished die.
1908
First private medal series struck in America for Circle of the Friends of the Medallion (company struck numbers 1, 2 and 12).
1915
First medal to be produced in America with raised lettering on the edges produced from engraved collars, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal.
1928
First American medal with with a relic metal insert, Association of Edison Illuminating Companies Plaquette with an insert made of recovered iron from the ironclad Merrimac.
1933First to combine medallic techniques in tablets containing removable names (received U.S. patent for this innovation).
1936
First medal made in America by powdered metallurgy, the International Philatelic Exhibition Plaquette.
1947
American medal struck in manganese, the Dow Chemical Company 50th Anniversary Medal.
1955First medal with a moving part, that of a magnet, the General Electric’s dedication ceremony of its West Minton, N.Y., atomic plant.
1966
First medal with a Braille inscription, a fine art medal for the Library of Congress Division of the Blind, the Francis Joseph Campbell Medal by Bruce Moore.
1967
First bimetal medal — with a clad strip of silver on a bronze base — for the 1967 centennial of Handy & Harmon, the precious metal dealers.
1968
First high relief proof surface medal struck in America, the Martin Luther King Medal by Abram Belskie, for International Numismatic Agency.
1972
First collectors’ plate to be made by bas-relief medallic process, the 10-inch Remington American West plate “Coming Through the Rye.”
1974
First multi-part medal, “Inspiration” by Frank Eliscu. The inner-sides of the medal fit flush together. Read the original press release on medalblog.