Today, March 6, at noon EST, the United States Mint will offer their 2.5-ounce Armed Forces Silver Medal honoring the U.S. Army. The collectible is struck in 99.9% fine silver to a diameter of 2 inches.
Representing the fifth of six designs from the series, this large format medal has a mintage of 10,000 pieces, is limited to 1 per household, and is priced at $175.
Demand for prior medals of the size has been solid, with each eventually selling out. Earlier released medals include:
- Air Force 2.5 Ounce Silver Medal – released July 13, 2021
- Coast Guard 2.5 Ounce Silver Medal – released August 17, 2021
- Navy 2.5 Ounce Silver Medal – released March 11, 2022
- Marine Corps 2.5 Ounce Silver Medal – released July 15, 2022
Images of each design follow.
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A same-sized medal honoring the Space Force is also planned, but no release date has been announced.
One-ounce silver and bronze versions of the Army medal will also be available at some point. To date, 1-ounce Coast Guard and 1-ounce Air Force silver medals have been released, as has an Air Force bronze medal. These versions have no mintage limits.
U.S. Army Silver Medal Designs
The obverse (heads side) of each medal contains a design highlighting the continuity of the United States Army. It depicts the likeness of a Continental and a modern soldier "at the ready" complete with weapons of their eras. Inscriptions include "UNITED STATES ARMY" and "SINCE 1775."
On the reverse (tails side), inscriptions of the seven core values of the Army ("LOYALTY," "DUTY," "RESPECT," "SELFLESS SERVICE," "HONOR," "INTEGRITY," and "PERSONAL COURAGE") are shown alongside the U.S. Army flag.
Streamers from several major battles have visible text, including APPOMATTOX 1865, LEXINGTON 1775, ABEYANCE 2014 – 2015, TET COUNTEROFFENSIVE 1968, and LUZON 1944 – 1945.
U.S. Army Medal Specifications
| Denomination: | N/A |
|---|---|
| Finish: | Matte |
| Composition: | 99.9% Silver |
| Weight: | 2.500 troy oz. |
| Diameter: | 2.000 inches /50.80 mm |
| Edge: | Plain |
| Mint and Mint Mark: | Philadelphia-N/A |
| Privy Mark: | N/A |
Ordering
The U.S. Mint’s product page for the Army Silver Medal is located here.
If it wasn’t for the United States Army and the other military services of the nation we might all now be speaking some combination of German, Japanese, Chinese and Russian, not to mention being compelled to endure an existence most probably not one we would even care to imagine. Unreserved thanks to all those who have served for their dedication, efforts and sacrifice.
Yes. Thank you good sir George Washington. If not for him we’d all be speaking British, or worse…. French. But it is good to learn second and third languages especially Spanish in America. Thanks to all brothers and sisters and sisters that think they are brothers and vice versa. In today’s army I’d probably go binary so that come PT test time I can say I’m a chick and crush the passing requirements. And go back to being a boring regular dude about 3 hours later. I know it is crazy to hear it except for veterans day and memorial… Read more »
The medal looks nice but I’m glad I don’t collect them…$175 for a medal! Yikes.
Exactly….yikes!
I love the coin, but not at that price. Love the coin!!!
Christopher, Domenic and Craig,
I agree with you on both counts. Great medal design; excessive price.
Somehow you just reminded me, Dazed and Coinfused, to also offer gratitude to Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant for saving at least a good half or more of us Americans from being forever stuck speechifying with a y’all drawl.
we speak slow so yall can keep up
Well, that explains it. 🙂
agreed, and it would be much to our chagrin
CH(chinese)A(arabic)G(german)R(russian)IN(indian)
The current frontrunner for this year’s MOAP (Most Original Acronym Prize)!
Well written, Kaiser.
Very nice of you to say that, Christopher; much obliged.
You’re welcome Kaiser, but I thought it was the thing to do and everyone called me stupid for enlisting. That was when people who served in ‘Nam were called baby killers. The Gulf War in ’90 changed all that.
I was a contemporary who didn’t happen to serve, Antonio, but I always thought the those who disparaged the very soldiers who both risked and often lost everything in Vietnam were very shortsighted, foolish and hypocritical people. Unfortunately it is the case that when you get so used to living with freedom all the time you quite often and all too easily lose the capacity to understand what it’s like not to have it and what it sometimes takes to defend and maintain it.
Represents 5 of 6 designs. I presume space force is the final. When I go to the product page, I think summer 2023 shows another navy coin. 1 oz. And then further down marine coin. So what is the 6th? Where is the space force or
national guard/reserves or whatever.
And with the navy and marine medals (coins) coming out again, does that mean another 6 coin series? Cluster foxtrot if I ever seen one.
The sixth is the Space Force medal and is the last of the series in the two and one-half ounce format; any other service medals going forward will be of the one ounce variety.
For the sheer novelty alone, I think the Space Force one will garner a lot of interest without even knowing the design yet. Out of curiosity, has anyone seen or heard of any Space Force activity? How exactly does someone join the Space Force? (or are you picked like in Men in Black?).
To qualify for the Space Force, Major D, you must either have been born off-planet or can point to something else that makes you an alien. Considering I was born in Austria and didn’t move here permanently until I was over twenty years old perhaps I could make the grade as an “alien”.
I am going to make an attempt to fulfill my household limit of one. Good luck to all who are in for this medal.
They aren’t even bothering with the wait room for this one
Surprised. Seems they had issues with the waiting room on 2/2
In and out. Smooth transaction with no waiting room.
less than a minute. in and out. seems to be just over half sold at the 15 minute mark. should be a same day sell out. not sure what the waiting room thing is. but did not see it for this item. i wonder why they chose not to use it.
Thanks for the update. I can’t access this from my Apple devices so I only get this info here.
A quick purchase. If I didn’t already have the prior 4 medals, probably wouldn’t get this one. My guess is it will be gone in 24 hours. Army and Navy have the most veterans followed by marines and then coast guard. I think the coast guard medal lasted beyond 24 hours as I recall. Same with the military engraved prints. The 4 other branches sold out quickly. Coast guard took a long time to sell out. Just a numbers game. I doubt the space force will be a quick sell out if and when it comes out. Few veterans from… Read more »
I am in for the whole series as well. Size matters. These 2.5 ounce medals are great. Wish I would have ordered more from the start. Just in for one each. The grands can arm wrestle for them. Maybe draw straws.
Especially at our age when the only size that matters anymore is that of our coins and medals they take on far greater importance.
If they count all the Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica folks as veterans that gives the new Space Force quite a boost in numbers.
3 hours after release, the data available show 3224 are left for purchase.
Thank you!
2,358 available as of 07:41 EST. I must admit, I am tempted.
I too was on the fence with one foot in before going all in.
Rooster, congrats. It’s a great-looking coin.
Good to hear you guys all got lucky with the Medal. Well played!
How do you see the numbers available?
Nope, nope, nope….im resigned to not give the mint any more of my money on overpriced product lines. If im not getting ASEs anymore or reg proof sets etc….im certainly not bothering with ANY medals. Im sticking to the Morgan/peace line and 1 silver proof set…..which is like a third of what i used to buy.
I was on the fence. The only reason I got it was because
I’ll tell ya later if I remember
Lol
If you bought the other military medals, or were actually in the Army, I would’ve got this one as well. Even though you are paying “through the nose”, it’s appropriate to mention you are getting 2.5 ounces of fine silver from the mint. That’s the good news, the bad news is that silver is only worth $53.30 as of todays spot price.
I have so much army stuff, I don’t need anymore. I bought a roll of Canadian two dollar coins commemorating Queen Elizabeth II with an oxidized or dark outer edge. They’re right, they aren’t black but dark gray or grey.
Antonio and Craig, the best Army “souvenir” I have is the memory of my dad looking sharp and proud in his crisp uniform displaying the first Sergeant Major’s patch awarded in USAREUR since the end of WWII.
I was once confused of being our brigade’s Command Sergeant Major. A confusion which ought not to have been made. Imagine if someone called out my last name to him? Not a pretty sight. We may have looked a like, we certainly didn’t have the same demeanor.
That is a mistake that should never have been made; this, after all, is what rank patches and shoulder insignia are for.
Hahaha
Ouch, that fall off the fence really did a job on your powers of recall.
You are a man of your word and principles, Domenic. Kudos on sticking to your guns.
1,982 available as of 9:35 a.m. EST March 7. Will likely be gone soon after HOL is lifted at noon today.
Thanks for the update.
Now that the order limit is gone, the remaining army medals are flying out the door.
Off topic, I wonder if the mint will significantly reduce their price on Palladium eagles. Currently Way to high based on spot.
I’m going to make a wild guess and say “No way” they will lower the Palladium coin price.If anything, I’d bet they would love to raise the price!
We could add a logical third to Henry Ford II’s two famous dictums, as in:
with tensions ramping up, i would say the use of platinum family metals will be increased to either force most collectors out, or to make enough profit to buy way more. any unsold would be used to manufacture military vehicles and parts. you may even see unky joe send his 87,000 irs agents out and about to start cutting catalytic convertors off the citizenry’s vehicles. the palladium were nice coins the first couple of years. and were rather down to earth in cost, but they quickly rocketed out of my price range. i am not sure what they are now.… Read more »
The “87,000” IRS agents reminds me of good old Joe McCarthy’s persistent which is to say oft-repeated claims of the “number of Communists in the State Department” which changed regularly with every single one of his mentions thereof. It’s a very old trope along the lines of the much more current Spinal Tap “11” on Nigel Tufnel’s guitar amplifier.
Sell-off is taking a lot longer than I thought. 285 available as of 9:54 p.m. EST March 9- three days after release.
Thank you Major D. At least everyone had a chance to get one.
9 minutes proir to noon and the one per house limit lifted (the magic mike buying spree) 1844 are available
I don’t know, Dazed and Coinfused, about referring to the Caffeine King of Coins as “Magic Mike” as that reminds one an awful lot of the male stripper movie of the same name.
Precious metals are tanking this morning! Silver is about to go below $20 an ounce – down over 2% this morning! Get your $175 silver medal with $50 worth of silver in it while they last! Lol.
NumisdudeTX
yes, get your silver now while you can. with Iran finding a huge lithium depository and none of the BS regulations to mine it like America (green laws, EPA, impact on native americans) has, the BRICS will soon begin their civil war. it wont be the north and the south, it’ll be the east vs the west. they seem more intent to switch to a gold standard and it makes sense as they constantly buy physical and stash it. on the other hand, americans believe that their sheet of paper that says they own gold and silver will soon find… Read more »
I concur with so much of what you wrote in that comment; good stuff!
As an aside, whatever else can be said or made of the BRICS, one thing is for sure; you couldn’t pay me to spend a single day in one of those cow plop countries.
Seth, once again I’d say it has very little to do with the metal, and everything to do with the limited mintage. For comparison, the 2.5 oz Marine medal sold for $160 at the Mint, and APMEX is currently selling for $364.57 by cc/pay pal. I’m sure there’s a profit to be made on eBay.
Just call APMEX & ask what they will pay you for these trinkets…You will be surprised. They can’t even sell the ones they have in stock obviously. You may make a profit if you are lucky & get one that will grade 70 at PCGS or NGC. The market for medals is very different than for legal tender coins & there are no good reference books for the most recent U.S. Mint medals for value guidance.
NumisdudeTX
No doubt that they will give you 50-60% for what they’re selling it for retail in the box/ non-graded (that seems to be pretty typical of these retail sites). However, the fact that they’re listing it for what they are says something. The 2.5 oz Marine medal was the only Armed Forces medal that I see for sale at APMEX. JM Bullion is Out of Stock of the 2.5 oz Navy and Marine Armed Forces medals- which says something about demand being greater than supply. Checked eBay and the majority of sales have been in the $200-$300 range for in-the-box/… Read more »
1201 pm and it is now 1565 available. selling rather quick
I’m dazed & confused as to why people pay $155 over spot for a silver medal that doesn’t even have a Mint mark on it & is not even a Proof medal!
Mike Mezack just got all of the last ones available of this medal & had a numismatic orgasm live on air on the HSN tv shopping show…how rude! Lol.
NumisdudeTX
The 3” bronze medals are $160.
Those bronze medals are a terrible deal. At least the 2.5oz silver medals have a strong after market.
Yep! I will jump on these over the bronze any day.
Just as a bit of a sideways thought, Rooster and E.C. Guru, but in Napoleon’s time aluminum was valued far above all of what we now call the precious metals, so things do change. Just sayin’.
But you get an extra half-inch.
Baaaaahaha
MINIATURE STONEHENGE AND THE DANCING DWARVES!
A strange case of art imitating art imitating life. Go figure.
Get an extra half-inch? As Michael from The Office would proclaim, “That’s what she said.”
If silver tanks any further these bronze medals will seem like a bargain. 😉
Just an example of a medal that people would buy without consideration of the metal value.
To some extent, Rooster, that perhaps ought to be the basic way we look at things for much of what we as true collectors buy.
1301 and we are at 1356 remaining. maybe today, but probably tomorrow it will sell out. it is only 10:01 west coast so maybe it will start picking up as the day runs on. i will post updates. maybe someday soon apple will develop tech to allow them to use source code easier. it can be done, but i am not sure if it tells you the info on the sales page only or not, considering you have to click the add to bag to bring it up, i think adding view source in front of https shows info, but… Read more »
I am surprised these army medals are still available. If I was a CO of a base, I would buy a bunch to give out similar to a challenge coin to my best performers.
That’s a great idea, East Coast Guru. I wish that 10% of these were allotted for that purpose as a gift from the Mint rather than going to the authorized dealers- but then that would mean the Mint would lose the sales revenue.
Sorry, Major D and E.C. Guru, the Mint doth taketh, not giveth away.
These Army silver medals are still available for purchase right now on the Mint’s website. Not even 10,000 collectors wanted one??
NumisdudeTX
In a year collectors are saying no to coins, Seth, they’ll put the kibosh on medals too.
So true…even the coin/medal dealers didn’t buy these all up…and that really tells you the whole story.
NumisdudeTX
Indeed, Seth; one can only stretch money so far. It’s inevitable that at some point it’s going to snap back and hit one right in the face…and the wallet!
This medal finally sold out this morning – 6 long days after it was offered. That is a bit surprising given its low mintage of 10,000 – a sign of these economic times maybe.
NumisdudeTX
Thanks for the update Seth. Just got mine in the mail today along with the congrats set. Also surprised it took this long.
I got mine today, too. I like it with the matte finish and the clamshell.
I think sign of the times. It’s unusual for the Congrat set to still be out there with 11,198 still available as of 9 pm EST March 11 (9 days after release). Even if you discount the extra 10,000 mintage, it means it didn’t sell out of the first 30,000 yet. Something unheard of in past years where the 30,000-limit sold out in the first hour.
Major D, Rooster and Seth, precious metals are down, retail prices are way up, homes have lost value, the stock market is faltering and banks are collapsing; seems we are in the midst of what might not be the best of times and as such it’s likely no longer surprising people are finally beginning to tighten their belts.
But I still have checks left!
I suggest you check again.