Stack’s Bowers Galleries Announces First-Ever Public Appearance and Offering of a Gold 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt Fourth Inaugural Medal

One of only 10 examples struck in this precious metal, it will highlight the firm’s upcoming 2025 Summer Global Showcase Auction.

While 3,500 examples of the 1945 inaugural medal in bronze were struck to be sold to the public and are offered today on a regular basis, gold examples are another matter entirely. The 10 produced enjoyed closed distribution that included government officials and world leaders as follows:

1. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: presented at the White House, January 18, 1945, two days prior to the inauguration. This medal was subsequently presented to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park after the president’s death on April 12, 1945.
2. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill: presented by President Roosevelt at the Livadia Palace, February 10, 1945, during the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.
3. General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Joseph Stalin: presented by President Roosevelt at the Livadia Palace, February 10, 1945, during the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.
4. Britain's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden: presented by President Roosevelt at the Livadia Palace, February 10, 1945, during the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.
5. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union Vyacheslav Molotov: presented by President Roosevelt at the Livadia Palace, February 10, 1945, during the Yalta Conference in the Crimea.
6. King Ibn Saud of Saudia Arabia: presented by President Roosevelt on board the cruiser USS Quincy, February 14, 1945, during a conference at Great Bitter Lake, Egypt.
7. Ambassador Joseph E. Davies: acquired as Chairman of the 1945 Inaugural Medal Committee.
8. Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross: acquired as a member of the 1945 Inaugural Medal Committee.
9. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park: ordered April 12, 1946, by the Inaugural Medal Committee, “to be presented to Hyde Park for permanent preservation.”
10. Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library at Hyde Park: ordered April 12, 1946, by the Inaugural Medal Committee, “to be presented to Hyde Park for permanent preservation.”

The specimen being offered by Stack’s Bowers Galleries is from the estate of Mint Director Ross. The three examples presented to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library are still impounded in its museum collection. None of the other six gold examples has ever resurfaced, and it is unknown whether all the five medals handed out by President Roosevelt at Yalta and Great Bitter Lake, or the medal acquired by Ambassador Davies, still exist.

“Each of the gold 1945 inaugural medals is a national treasure,” observed Jeff Ambio, Vice President of Numismatics for Stack’s Bowers Galleries. “Produced during the final chapter of World War II, they are exceedingly rare, saw limited distribution to government officials and world leaders, and are directly linked to the Yalta Conference that helped define the postwar world. Yet despite their significance, these gold medals are all but unknown both within the numismatic community and to the public. Our offering of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross' specimen should bring to the story of these important medals the attention it deserves.”

This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that deserves the utmost attention from bidders. “The new owner,” continued Ambio, “will be adding their name to the short list of government officials and influential world leaders who have owned a gold example of this medal, a list that includes Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, King Ibn Saud and, of course, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt himself.”

The Stack’s Bowers Galleries 2025 Summer Global Showcase Auction will be held August 25-30 and September 2-5, 2025, in the firm’s Costa Mesa, California headquarters, with lot viewing available in Costa Mesa, New York City, and at the ANA World’s Fair of Money in Oklahoma City. Consignments of ancient coins, world coins and paper money, and U.S. coins and currency are currently being accepted for the sale. To include your numismatic items, contact Stack’s Bowers Galleries at 800-458-464 or Consign@StacksBowers.com.