CALIFORNIA BICENTENNIAL MEDALLION

Location:                     Not applicable.          

Year completed:      1969
 

Architect:                  Not applicable.

Medium:
                   Silver and bronze.      

Dimensions:
           1.5 in. and 2.5 in.

Price:
                        $2:00 – $35:00

Description:
            Numismatist Maurice M. Gould wrote that the medallion “features a grizzly bear, symbol of the state of California, on the obverse. A symbol representing the redwoods appears on the left, and on the right is a poppy, the state flower.

The reverse depicts a figure group, each one representing a basic cultural influence in the state’s history. The four figures are a Franciscan father, an Indian, a Mexican vaquero, and a modern engineer-builder. Also pictured are a frontier man, a gold miner, a farmer, and a worker, as well as an image of a valley quail, the state bird, and the golden trout, the state fish.”[1]

Commissioner:         The California Bicentennial Celebration Commission, chaired by Lieutenant Governor Ed Reinecke.

Condition:                   Not applicable.

Image Source:           TVS digital record.

Notes:                         The official California bicentennial medallions were issued to mark the “200th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent settlements in California.”[2]

Five artists were invited to submit designs to the Bicentennial Medallion Committee. Its members, who selected Tom Van Sant's design, included Mrs. Otis Chandler of Los Angeles, Robert Stanton from Monterey, the Rev. Noel F. Maholy of Lakeport, and Richard Pourade, San Diego.

The medallions were manufactured by the Medallic Art Company of New York City and displayed and sold in “nearly 4000 bank branches and savings and loan offices” in California.[3]

 Four versions of the medallion went on sale to the public in mid-June 1969: a 1.5 in. diameter medallion available in bronze and silver, which retailed at $2:00 and $10:00 respectively; and 2.5 in. diameter medallions in bronze and silver costing $5:00 and $35:00.  

“Strongest demand...has been for the $35 silver art medallion...only 20,000 of these silver medallions will be minted, after which the mold will be broken... Above the figures is the inscription The Golden Land.”[4]

Within three months, sales of the medallion had reached $1,250,000.[5] “Proceeds from medallion sales will help finance bicentennial celebration events during the rest of 1969 and through 1970.”[6]

An object of its time and place

The Bicentennial Medallion exhibited the dominant values and prejudices of its day. As an example, the idea that permanent settlement in California was only 200 years old was an error that reflected settler-colonial attitudes toward the indigenous peoples of North America. Historic and archaeological data indicate that “permanent settlements occupied over long periods of time” were present in pre-contact California. [7]

Similarly, the figures on the medal’s reverse maximize the influence of white men in Californian culture, while the icons representing “industries which have contributed to state’s growth” define growth in terms of industrial progress.[8]  

It would be surprising if a state medallion from 1969 did not express such ideas, for they informed the dominant view of the day. Bowdlerization of the meanings expressed in this triumphalist artwork is not my intent, but in such a context Van Sant’s inclusion of an indigenous man in the line-up of California’s cultural influences is worth noting. In contrast, other official items more fully articulated the settler-colonial narrative of US history by erasing indigenous existence entirely, as occurred with the California Bicentennial medal issued by Fiesta de las Rosas, and a 1950 postage stamp celebrating the centenary of California’s statehood illustrated below, (images below).

[1] Maurice M. Gould, “California Medal Features Symbols,” Williamsport Sunday Grit, National Edition, August 31, 1969.

[2] “Bicentennial Medallions Due June 1,” Van Nuys News, March 27, 1969, Pg. 80.

[3] “State Bicentennial Medals Will Go on Sale Tomorrow,” Van Nuys Valley News & Green Sheet, June 15, 1969, Pg. 10.

[4] La Verne Leader, August 14, 1969, Pg. 16, La Verne, California, US.

[5] “Bicentennial Medallions Sell Briskly,” The Van Nuys Valley News & Green Sheet, October 16, 1969, Pg. 2, Van Nuys, CA.

[6] “State Bicentennial Medals Will Go on Sale Tomorrow,” Van Nuys Valley News & Green Sheet, June 15, 1969, Pg. 10.

[7] S. McLendon, J. R. Johnson, et al, Cultural Affiliation and Lineal Descent of Chumash Peoples
in the Channel Islands and the Santa Monica Mountains, Volume 1, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, December 1999, \

[8] “State Bicentennial Medals Will Go on Sale Tomorrow,” Van Nuys Valley News & Green Sheet, June 15, 1969, Pg. 10.