Gallery Mint Museum - Introductory Letter - Circa 1992
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This letter is to introduce you to the Gallery Mint Museum. Our goal is to create a fully functional mint that demonstrates early coin making methods using antique and reproduction machinery.
Five separate exhibits will illustrate the development of coin making and die engraving from ancient Greece, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, and Industrial Revolution.
The art of coin making is one that literally created the economic system. The technologies created fro coin making have made their way into modern industries in ways too numerous to mention. It is our goal to build a permanent museum dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the numismatic arts.
By making the museum operational, it comes to life. Wooden gears creak. The melting furnace roars as large bellows are pumped by the 12 foot water wheel. Hammers and anvils ring as silver bars are hammered into sheet. The visual impact will be of great delight to all who see it. We believe that this is an interesting way to promote a better understanding and appreciation of the numismatic arts. And, by using the actual materials and tools of the period, we hope to gain a better insight into the problems that faced the early coin makers.
We chose Eureka Springs, Arkansas for the site of the museum. This area has a well established tourist industry, and most important, there are many year-round streams in the area which are suitable to power the water wheels.
The project is the brain child of engraver Ron Landis. Ron has been interested in early coin making techniques for over ten years, when he started demonstrating his art at Renaissance Festivals all over the country. Ron Landis is also one of the co-founders of Project Segovia, Spain. Ron's most recent achievement is the completion of the 'Royal Mint of the Renaissance', a 16th century style mint at the Texas Renaissance Festival outside Houston, TX. The festival runs seven weekdays a year starting the first Saturday of October.
When Ron was promoting Project Segovia, he found that many people were interesting, but wondered why there can't be something like it here in the United States. After seeing the success of the renaissance exhibit in Texas, he was convinced that there should be a permanent, full-time facility which could show a wider time period. The Gallery Mint Museum will be the largest, most complete working exhibit of it's kind in the world. The work will take several years to complete and will be done mainly by Ron Landis and his new partner, Joe Rust. Joe will help with every aspect of the project including the machining for dies and collars used to strike unusual and creative art medals which will be sold to finance the project.
We hope to offer something different to the collector besides the standard one-ounce rounds. Hammered medals, bi-metal medals are just a few ideas. We now have a large high relief art medal which features a very elaborate edge design. Only 500 of these will be produced in silver (5 ounce), which depict the entire coining procedure in seven different panels around the edge. This is the first offering we have available to promote the Gallery Mint Museum. We are also interested in your ideas on what you want. We would like to keep our mintages very low (500 or less) or, would you rather pay less for a medal of a higher mintage. Your input will be taken into consideration.
Our exhibit in Texas features a strike-your-own medal where people are invited to come into the work area and operate a 40 ton drop hammer to strike their own commemorative medal. Even small children are able to wind up the 100 pound hammer and pull the lever to release it. The hands-on experience is one of great delight to people of all ages. The Gallery Mint will have such an exhibit as special workshops where coin clubs can come in for a day and participate in the production of their own conventions medals, etcetera.
Classes in hand engraving will be offered from time to time, and a special room will be reserved for showings of medallic sculptors. We also will have a small library containing books on numismatics, as well as arts and technologies.
Future plans are to build a water powered paper factory which will produce water marked papers for the purpose of printing art certificates from hand engraved plates. We are also talking with some other artists on the possibility of creating more exhibits of this nature. Eventually, Gallery will become an entire village of museum quality exhibits demonstrating many arts.
So far, Gallery is just in the planning stages. We have recently purchased a temporary location in the area so that we can set up the presses and meanwhile, look for that one special place suited for this project.
This project will be funded totally from the sales of the medals produced for this purpose. We are asking for the support of the numismatic community not only monetary support, but your encouragement is also needed. Your ideas will be appreciated so that we can do this as tastefully as possible. Also, if you have any material to donate to the project; such as books, illustrations, equipment, etcetera, your donations will be acknowledged on special plaques in the museum, as well as receiving a special medal produced just for donors.
With much talk these days of the lack of interest in coin collecting among young people, we have found that to be completely untrue. In fact, about 80% of our sales at the renaissance festival are to people between the ages of six and twenty-six. Not only do they enjoy the demonstration, but we sell many items suited to their tastes. When you see the eyes light up as a twelve year old sees the 'coin' that he just made, you know that experience has made a lasting impression on him.
We as experienced coin collectors are sometimes so advanced that it is hard to remember the 'magic' of that first acquisition of a coin or medal. A visit to the Gallery Mint Museum will be a fun experience which the general public can be introduced to numismatics without being intimidated or confused by grading standards, slabbing, and all the other issues important to the more advanced numismatists. Before we can get interested in the intricacies of numismatics, we must first have a basic appreciation of the coin or medal. Many of our customers remark "I never realized there was so much to producing a coin, I thought they just stamped them out." One came back and said, "Since I saw the demonstration, I've started looking at the coins in my pocket and see them in a whole new way." Many customers tell me of the collections of our medals proudly displayed on their coffee tables and mantles. Just last week, a six year old boy made his own coin on the drop hammer. Just barely tall enough to reach the lever of the coin hammer, he pulled and pulled, determined to do it all by himself. When the weight finally fell, you could see the sense of accomplishment in his expression, and when he saw the results of his efforts in the form of a large copper medal, you could tell that he would treasure this piece for many years to come. His father thanked us and told us how glad he was to have decided to visit the mint. It was a perfect ending to a day out.
Once again, we'd like to stress the importance of your involvement in this project. Quite simply, this can not happen without your support.
Introducing the Gallery Mint Museum Numismatic Arts Medal Hot-struck in approximately 5 ounce Troy .999 fine silver.
This medal is over 3/8" thick and features an elaborate edge design. Fourteen cherubs in seven panels encircle the edge of this medal and perform all the steps in the coining process from mining, melting and casting, rolling, cutting, weighing, edge rolling, and striking. The eighth panel is reserved for the series number in this edition of 500. Price $150.
Because of the experimental nature of the way this medal is produced, some hand finishing is required to remove flash around the die seams. A patina is recommended for visual appeal. However, you can receive your medal exactly the way it looks off the press if you order it that way. Specific numbers can be requested and we will be happy to help you in any way that we can. Unless otherwise specified, you will receive a finished medal (with Patina) with the lowest series number available upon receipt. GALLERY MINT MUSEUM, POBox706, Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Send check or money order for $155 ($5 postage and etcetera.)
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~ Introducing the Gallery Mint Museum.
~ Retail Shop Opens (in the Leather Rose Gallery.)
~ Gallery Mint's temporary studio is complete.
~ Now Accepting Custom Orders.
~ Your involvement is encouraged.
~ Gallery Mint goes to Hungary.
~ Latest Issues: 1993 1.5 Oz. Gallery Mint Museum Silver Medal, 5 Oz. High
Relief Art Silver Medal and 5 Oz. Medusa-Perseus Medal.
