MAYFLOWER II COMMEMORATIVE COIN 1957
Mayflower II commemorative medallions pictured a father standing tall and pointing toward the future, a distance horizon, while holding a bible in his lowered left hand. His wife stands under his benevolent reach with a baby in one arm as a small boy stands holding her hand. Over the patriarch’s shoulder is an older man looking in the same direction as the others. The group fills half the coin and is balanced with two shirtless workers with slightly bent knees lifting a heavy chest. All seven are standing on a gangplank suggesting the ship’s departure and inscribed “1620.” The background has an image of Mayflower at the top and a Pilgrim village on the bottom. Printed around the edge are the words, “Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced. Bradford.” The reverse side has allegorical figures of the United States and Great Britain kneeling with their respective shields shaking hands across the ocean with the Statue of Liberty and Mayflower II in the background. Connecting their separate docks is a draping banner with the words “1620 MAYFLOWER 1957.”
The artists name is inscribed at the bottom, P. Vincze. Production was limited to one hundred in 22 caret gold, one hundred fifty in 18 caret gold, two hundred in 9 caret gold and seven hundred fifty in silver. Bronze issues had no limit. All were offered with a choice of diameters: one and a half inch or a two and a half inches. A royal blue velveteen presentation case held either a single medallion or three.
Designer Paul Vincze received special praise a few years earlier when he struck two popular coins for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II that featured the young monarch in a soft and gentle manner. Other internationally recognized medals featured American President Truman (1952), British Prime Minister Clement Attlee (1953) and Prince Karim Aga Khan (1955). His artistry was included in a special Art Competition at the 1948 London Summer Olympics and in 1951 he was awarded the Premio Especial at the International Exhibition in Madrid.
© Richard Stone
Image courtesy of the Warwick Charlton Family Archives, Charlton Foundation and Three Sisters Publishing Limited.