While 3,500 examples of the 1945 inaugural medal in bronze were struck to be sold to the public and are offered today on a regular basis, gold examples are another matter entirely.
A unique and remarkable 1945 U.S. Presidential Inaugural Gold Medal, awarded to Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross and now being sold by Stack’s Bowers Galleries, is highlighting the firm’s upcoming 2025 Summer Global Showcase Auction.
Only 10 examples of this medal were struck in gold, rendering it among the rarest and most prized U.S. coins or medals. Of the 3,500 medals sold to the public, all in bronze, they were launched in December 1945 to support the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), founded in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, following his diagnosis of poliomyelitis in 1921. The medals were offered in bronze for $5 or two new $1 War Bonds at the time.
Of the 10 gold medals, five were presented by President Roosevelt at Yalta and Great Bitter Lake to Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, Ibn Saud, Haile Selassie and Chaim Weizmann. A sixth was given to Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, and a seventh went to Charles Poletti, the president’s close aide, who served as the last governor of New York following the death of Herbert Lehman.
The three examples of the medal that were presented to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library are still impounded in its museum collection, and the specimen being offered by Stack’s Bowers Galleries is from the estate of Mint Director Ross. None of the other six gold examples has ever resurfaced, and it is unknown whether all the five medals handed out by President Roosevelt at Yalta and Great Bitter Lake, or the medal acquired by Ambassador Davies, still exist.
“Each of the gold 1945 inaugural medals is a national treasure,” observed 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. Yet despite their significance, these gold medals are all but unknown both within the numismatic community and to the public. Our offering of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross' specimen should bring to the story of these important medals the attention it deserves.”
This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that deserves the utmost attention from bidders. “The new owner,” continued Ambio, “will be adding their name to the short list of government officials and influential world leaders who have owned a gold example of this medal, a list that includes Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, King Ibn Saud and, of course, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself.”
The Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2025 Summer Global Showcase Auction will be held August 25-30 and September 2-5, 2025, in the firm’s Costa Mesa, California headquarters, with lot viewing available in Costa Mesa, New York City, and at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Oklahoma City. Consignments of ancient coins, world coins and paper money, and U.S. coins and currency are currently being accepted for the sale. To include your numismatic items, contact Stack’s Bowers Galleries at 800-458-464 or Consign@StacksBowers.com.
