McCormick Centennial Coins

The gold circles described above were actually images of the two sides of a brass coin, or medallion, that IHC commissioned to be struck by the Medallic Art Co. of New York. The medallion is about 1.3 inches in diameter, and was issued to International Harvester dealers by the thousand to be handed out to customers and prospects. Watch fobs and bracelet charms were made as well, and may be somewhat more rare than the coins. Larger versions of the two images were often mounted side-by-side on a walnut plaque, hung in IH dealers' showrooms.

Obviously, since so many of the medallions were distributed, they are very common and, as a result, aren't very valuable. At the IHC Collectors' Club Auction in Cookeville, Tenn., last fall, one of these coins sold for $15. A recent example on the internet auction service, eBay, went for $8. A California dealer in IHC memorabilia claims to have a number of the McCormick centennial coin medallions still in the original shipping box that have never been circulated. He will send you one of these which he refers to as the "Centennial Coin," for $14.95 plus $3.50 shipping and handling.

My advice would be to just keep the coin as a memento of your grandmother's garden, although a died-in-the-wool IH collector might give you $10 or $15 for the thing. FC