Lithuanian Token Update--Researching medals in general
Big cypress hunter, the picture of your token may not be the only one in existence.
This medal of Antanas Smetona, the first President of the State of Lithuania,
was designed most likely, in late 1918, after he had just signed the country's Declaration of Independence.
He began office on April 4, 1919.
The medal was made by the prestigious Medallic Art Co. of New York City, founded in 1903, and which now exists in Nevada under a new owner.
What's interesting..... this company, on it's website, says it cannot give information of its past minting and identification because thousands were produced.
But that's not true. After researching links through the New York Public Library for Medallic Art, I came across an article about a library employee who began collecting pictures and images in 1929 for the library's "clip file." She included thousands of pictures from Medallic Art Co., along with past minted images(the company was six blocks away and used library as "research site").
Around 35 years ago, a Medallic Art employee was sent to photograph the archived medal designs in the NYPL. He
even supposedly typed each medal's size, name, location, year, compostion, and client.
I read that the data, since then, is now in the firm's database in Nevada.
There's a good chance detailed information on this medal was documented because it was minted only ten years before these files began at the NYPL. It's ashame if private companies can't be helpful and compassionate to the linkage of the past...the history that one holds in a small piece of medal. It's fortunate to have socities that specialize in collectibles, but research could be done so much quicker if the company who made a piece of artwork only reveal...........
I'm confident we'll get more info about your medal because there are many still-living Lithuanian/Americans of that era.
