Many if not most of these books are out of print. Where we can, we have listed the best sources based on price and availability. In our search we have found some real bargains. See below for addresses and ordering information.

As a starter, one of the best survey books comes to us from the British Museum. It is The Art of the Medal by Mark Jones (1979). It is a comprehensive introduction to medals, starting with the medalist Pisanello (1395-1455), generally credited with introducing medals as an art form in the Renaissance, right on through Art Nouveau, World War I, Art Deco, and some very modern medals. The only American medals covered are some commissioned to French medalists by the first U.S. Congress to honor Revolutionary War heroes, but this book has a lot of substance and quite thoroughly delineates the artistic, historical, social, and political implications of medals. Plus there are lots of photos.

Dealer Paul Bosco calls The Art of the Medal "the absolutely brilliant survey of medals, Renaissance to Modernist. It’s a great read and a true education. If you profess a serious interest in medals, generally, and you don’t obtain this book, you’re an ass. The book is that good."

You may find the book on eBay or one of the book search services, but the best deal we found was $39.95 for a hardbound new copy with dust jacket "damaged due to improper storage" from medals dealer Rich Hartzog. Bosco said it is often available from eBay seller "kymelyn."

For a survey of American medals, the best we have found is One Hundred Years of American Medallic Art, 1845-1945: The John E. Marqusee Collection, a 1995 catalog by Susan Luftschein of John Marqusee’s collection of 415 American medals, which he donated to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

In the introduction Marqusee writes that he and his wife turned to collecting medals after they moved to smaller quarters. His inspiration came from artist Leonard Baskin, who had a spectacular collection of Renaissance medals. Unlike more specialized collectors, Marqusee collected all over the American spectrum—from War of 1812 medals (most done in the 1840’s) through Indian peace medals, Circle of Friends of the Medallion medals, Society of Medalists medals, and many kinds of commemoratives. It’s easy to see why his name and his medal numbers have become standard references for American medals.

You can find the 96-page catalog at stiff prices from the used and rare book dealers, but as long as they last, you are better off going direct to the museum, where it will cost you just $6 plus $3 postage.

Another worthy survey book is Medallic Art of the United States 1800-1972, a 1972 catalog of an exhibition at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery in Shreveport, Louisiana. It covers more modern medals including some by the Franklin Mint, which get rather short shrift in most other literature. There are also descriptions of the modern medal-making process. The 41-page softbound catalog is available from the gallery at $3 plus $6 postage.

That same museum shop strategy also holds true for the two most important catalogs of early medals, Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College (1976) by Andrea S. Norris and Ingrid Weber, and The Salton Collection: Renaissance & Baroque Medals & Plaquettes (1969). Both may be ordered from the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. The former is $17.50; the latter, $7.50. The Molinari catalog covers European medals from the Renaissance to the end of the 19th century in 292 pages, while Salton covers, as the title announces, Renaissance to Baroque in its 188 pages. The Salton catalog was written by then director at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and now Maine dealer Marvin Sadik.

If you are interested only in American medals, you might question including these two catalogs in your library, but they give an excellent summation of the genesis of all medallic art. And who knows, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to stumble on or even buy a Renaissance medal and feel the enjoyment of holding in your hands something lovingly created over 400 years ago.

For a good survey of the sculptors who worked in medals from the 1876 centennial to World War I, The Beaux-Arts Medal in America by Barbara A. Baxter, the catalog for a 1987-88 American Numismatic Society exhibition, rates some shelf space. It is well illustrated and contains detailed descriptions and good historical notes in its softbound 92 pages. The best deal we have found for it is $5.98 at the David Brown Book Company.

The U.S. Mint was and is an important issuer of medals. The classic reference is Medals of the United States Mint: The First Century 1792-1892 by R.W. Julian, reprinted and updated in 1977 by The Token and Medal Society. This is the standard reference for all those Congressionally awarded military, naval, and inaugural medals. It has lots of photographs, mintage figures by metal (gold, silver, bronze, white metal, etc.), and tons of information. It is the source of the Julian numbers used by many catalogers to categorize U.S. Mint medals. Rich Hartzog will sell you a copy of this 1977 hardbound 425-pager for $74.95, and it’s worth every penny.

Similar information but extended through the inauguration of Richard Nixon in 1969 is contained in Medals of the United States Mint, a 278-page catalog by Kenneth M. Failor and Eleonora Hayden. Originally published in 1969 as a "medals for sale" list by the U.S. Government Printing Office at $3.50 and revised in 1972, it is now available only through rare and used book dealers. When we last checked, Amazon listed eight copies at prices ranging from $8.89 to $48.50. Incidentally, the U.S. Mint still has a number of medals for sale. Go to (http://catalog.usmint.gov) for an on-line catalog.

Two somewhat advanced collections of essays are The Medal in America: Volume 1 (1987) and The Medal in America: Volume 2 (1997), both edited by Alan M. Stahl and both compilations of papers read at the Coinage of the Americas Conferences of the American Numismatic Society in New York City. The hardbound books are 247 and 294 pages respectively. Each includes in-depth essays on medalists and schools of medalists. David Brown Books will sell you Volume 1 for $25 and Volume 2 for $15. Get them while they last!

Even more advanced is a new book, Comitia Americana and Related Medals: Underappreciated Monuments to Our Heritage by John W. Adams and Anne E. Bentley. Its 304 pages will set you back $135 plus $10 shipping from George Frederick Kolbe Publications, but it will probably turn out to be a good investment. Kolbe has bound only 600 copies and printed sheets for another 200. When those are sold out, the price will surely escalate on the rare book market.

Comitia Americana is Latin for "American Congress," and this book covers the medals authorized by Congress for Revolutionary War heroes—among them George Washington, John Eager Howard, Nathanael Greene, John Paul Jones, and several others. Congress had to go to France to have the medals designed and struck. The authors have done a fantastic research job tracking down all the particulars of how the medals were ordered and made, and how many and where the surviving medals are located now.

I wrote at the beginning of this article that there is no reliable price guide for medals. That’s true for American medals, but there is an excellent one for medals by our friends across the ocean, British Commemorative Medals and Their Values by Christopher Eimer. Published in 1987, it’s long out of print, but it occasionally turns up in rare or used booksellers’ listings. The book lists 2148-plus medals (one set, the 40 Mudie medals, gets just one number), and it is so thorough that the very few medals not listed usually carry a "not listed in Eimer!" label when they are offered for sale on eBay.

I’ll end this list with a book that everyone should own if for no other reason than it’s a pure visual delight. It’s The Currency of Fame: Portrait Medals of the Renaissance by Stephen K. Scher, with 495 medals illustrated, 105 in full color. Published in 1994 at $50 by Harry N. Abrams, it is a 424-page catalog of an exhibition organized by the National Gallery and the Frick Collection. It is widely discounted by remainder booksellers. David Brown has it at $19.98, Google Product Search on the Internet has it as low as $19.95 and as high as $89.95. Even at that price, it’s a good deal!