1974 Rare Gerald R. Ford Official Inaugural Medal 8-Piece Manufacturing Process Set

1974 Rare Gerald R. Ford Official Inaugural Medal 8-Piece Manufacturing Process Set. An exceptional and seldom encountered presentation showing, step by step, the manufacture of Gerald R. Ford's official 1974 presidential inaugural medal—from an untouched metal blank to the completely struck and finished medal.

Rather than simply displaying different varieties of the Ford inaugural medal, this fascinating eight-stage process set illustrates how a high-relief medal was actually produced. The individual pieces are identified BLANK, 1ST STRIKE, 2ND STRIKE, 3RD STRIKE, 4TH STRIKE, SANDBLAST, OXIDIZED and FINISHED. Viewed sequentially, the set allows the collector to watch Ford's portrait and the reverse design emerge through successive strikes before the medal receives its final surface treatments and finish.

The transformation is particularly dramatic. The first piece is nothing more than an unstruck planchet; successive strikes gradually bring up the portrait, lettering and fine details of the dies. The later examples demonstrate the finishing operations that give the completed bronze medal its characteristic depth, contrast and appearance.

All eight pieces are permanently presented in a handsome purpose-made display consisting of clear acrylic outer panels surrounding an opaque white acrylic center panel with individually recessed openings for the medals. The panel is engraved "GERALD R. FORD INAUGURAL PROCESS SET," with each stage individually identified beneath its corresponding medal. The medals are visible from both sides, permitting the entire striking progression of both the obverse and reverse to be examined.

Ford's 1974 inaugural medal occupies an unusual place in presidential history. Unlike virtually every president represented in the traditional official inaugural medal series, Ford had no election victory or regularly scheduled presidential inauguration to commemorate. Following Richard Nixon's resignation, Ford took the presidential oath of office on August 9, 1974, becoming the only person to serve as both Vice President and President without having been elected to either office.

Process sets were never intended as ordinary souvenir issues. They are specialized presentations documenting the actual medal-making procedure, and they are encountered far less frequently than the finished inaugural medals themselves. The significance of such sets to medal collectors is well established: a Medal Collectors of America account of an award-winning exhibit specifically described a Gerald R. Ford process set consisting of eight medals demonstrating the striking of a high-relief medal. 

Original, of course and from a unique collection of presidential inaugural medals we recently acquired