I defined a� new type of� historic numismatic specimens as the� Unsung First Day Issues and are not� readily known by the numismatic nor collector communities.� My quick research (less than a week) was instigated by NGC's recent grading of a bag of 1964-D Kennedy half dollars. I agree with their assignment of a "First Day Issue" (FDI) designation. But now it leaves the door open for the Unsung First Day Issues.�

�President Eisenhower awarded/gifted a special Government medal (sGm)� during his visit to Hawaii from June 20-25, 1960. My research has shown that: 1. Only 400 medals were struck by the Philadelphia Mint. 2. The medal was designed by Frank Gasparro.3. The medal is the first U.S. Mint product to bear the design element for the State of Hawaii (not to be confused with the Kingdom of Hawaii or the Territory of Hawaii).4. Only 267 survived and are available to collectors.This information may seem trivial now, but it was undocumented for over a half-century. More importantly, the medal itself is a presidential artifact. Better yet, a presidential numismatic artifact. Even better, a presidential numismatic artifact personally awarded by the President himself. Better than better is the fact that the medal is tied to the first visit by a President to the State of Hawaii, and the same President that signed into law the establishment of the 50th state. In other words, the medal is tied directly to a US historical events and the Office of the President of the United States.The images and newspaper documents President Eisenhower's visit to the State of Hawaii. The medal is in my collection.There is a another interesting story about the cancelled Alaska medal...It would have been nice to have a sGm that represented the 49th state (of which President Eisenhower also visited earlier on June 12-13, 1960 and signed into law the establishment of the 49th state.

In Part 1,� I limited the time period of my discussions from 1958 through 1962. Expanding my discussion by a few years earlier and later, I'm able to provide another example of an "unintentional medal series" manufactured by the Bureau of the Mint.From the first� accompanying image (I only own the silver and bronze specimens), it can be said that a minimum of three types of procurements were made by the Department of the Interior. The Department of the Interior series is composed of a Distinguished Service (gold), Meritorious Service (silver), and Commendable Service (bronze) medals. Note that the type of service award is identified� on the obverse.The second accompanying image compares the Department of the Interior and Department of Commerce "meritorious service" (silver) medals.It can be said that the metal type (gold, silver, and bronze) was associated to an award level (Distinguished, Meritorious , and Commendable).It can be said that the U.S. Government agencies showcased its headquarters building in Washington DC on the medal's reverse design.It can be said that the reverse design replicates the award level and has an engraving pad area.It can be said that U.S. Mint engravers left their hallmark on either the obverse or reverse (Department of the Interior - Gilroy Roberts - reverse, right bottom of building)(Department of Commerce - Frank Gasparro, obverse, under right leg of eagle).�

If you Google the term "special government medal" or "sGm" or "special medals for US government agencies" your search result relating to the Bureau of the Mint or United States Mint will be empty. However, if you search the term "POTUS sGm" you will get a hit to my website (discusses a particular type of "special government medal" of which I have ongoing research). This empty search result� points out that these common terms� are� unused and uncommon term within the US numismatic community. However, if you review each of the� Annual Reports of the Director of the Mint (if you have the time) you will see this term is used often to describe a function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint. What is a "special government medal (sGm)"? The term "special medals for US government agencies" relates to the third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint.� The three blog images provides an introduction to this third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint/United States Mint.The final image with the examples of "special government medals" drives the point of this blog entry. There is no numismatic work that identifies nor catalogs all� results from the third official manufacturing function of the Bureau of the Mint (or United States Mint). The final images also provides evidence of the connection between the Bureau of the Mint and multiple United States Government agencies with Frank Gasparro as the common thread as the designer of these three represented "special Government medals".�

The images in this blog are from the Annual Report of the Director of the Mint from the years 1957 through 1962. The Bureau of the Mint provided a function to manufacture special Government medals (sGm). The other functions of the Bureau of the Mint was to manufacture coinage for commerce and national commemorative medals (NCM). 1957 image - NCM (term historical) and sGm are mentioned1958 image - NCM (term historical) and sGm are mentioned1959 image - NCM (term historical) and sGm are mentioned1960 image - NCM (term historical) and sGm are mentioned1961 image - NCM (term historical) and sGm are mentioned1962 image - A change in terms. Medals of national character (NCM) and� special medals for United States Government agencies (sGm).These images provides evidence that the Bureau of the Mint had three functions in the manufacture realm:1. Manufacture coins for commerce (domestic and foreign)2. Manufacture national medals3. Manufacture special Government medals General numismatic information has been readily available for coins of commerce and national medals. Special Government medals are without general numismatic information and this is due to its unacknowledged status by the Bureau of the Mint. Do you know why sGm have an unacknowledged status?�sGm are a product of a joint inter-agency effort (acquiring US Government� agency and the Bureau of the Mint).� The Bureau of the Mint enforces confidentiality of this joint inter-agency effort, hence no releasing of information to the public.���