1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round

MintAmerican Medallion Corporation AMC (Houston TX)

IssuerRobert E. Westfall Inc

DistributorRobert E. Westfall Inc

CollectionAMC Cartoon Celebrities Series

The obverse depicts a stylized portrait bust of Brenda Starr, rendered with her signature voluminous swept hairstyle and a five-pointed shooting star at her brow, evoking her comic-strip "Starr" namesake. The character's name arcs around the upper and right field as "BRENDA STARR" above and "REPORTER" below-right, framing the portrait. A "© TMS" copyright mark appears in the lower-left field near her shoulder, identifying Tribune Media Services as the licensing rights holder for the character at the time of striking. A separate small circular monogram is struck into the field just beneath the "A" in "BRENDA" — its content is not conclusively identified and is noted here as an open item pending further research or comparison against other Cartoon Celebrities obverses.

The reverse carries the Cartoon Celebrities series' shared design, common across the character line. A central device of three interlocking elliptical rings sits beneath the arced legend "CARTOON CELEBRITIES." Below the device, the legend continues "MADE IN USA BY AMC" and "ONE TROY OZ. 999 FINE SILVER," identifying both the manufacturer and the round's weight and fineness.

1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round Overview

The 1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round is a one troy ounce, .999 fine silver round issued as part of the AMC Cartoon Celebrities Series, a licensed medal program produced by American Medallion Corporation (AMC) of Houston, Texas, and issued and distributed by Robert E. Westfall Inc. of Los Angeles, California.

Brenda Starr, Reporter is a comic strip created by Dale Messick in 1940 for the Chicago Tribune–New York News Syndicate, debuting as a Sunday feature before adding a daily run in 1945. Messick modeled the character’s glamorous look on actress Rita Hayworth and, at the suggestion of syndicate assistant Mollie Slott, gave her the occupation of a globe-trotting newspaper reporter rather than the “girl bandit” Messick had originally envisioned. By the mid-1980s, when this round was produced, the strip had passed through several successive creative teams, with Ramona Fradon illustrating and Mary Schmich scripting the storyline — part of a decades-long line of continuity that helped keep the character a recognizable, actively licensed property well into the era of AMC’s Cartoon Celebrities program.

The Cartoon Celebrities Series drew its character roster from multiple intellectual property owners, including DC Comics, Archie Comic Publications, King Features Syndicate, and Tribune Media Services — the copyright holder credited on this round’s obverse as “© TMS.” Brenda Starr appears among the documented characters in the series checklist alongside other King Features and Tribune Media Services strips such as Blondie and Dagwood, Gasoline Alley, and Little Orphan Annie, as well as licensed DC Comics and Archie Comics characters. The original retail packaging for the series identified the character checklist available at time of issue, with documented examples indicating the line was expanded beyond the original package listing.

1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round Attribution

Mint: American Medallion Corporation (AMC) Issuer: Robert E. Westfall Inc. Designer/Sculptor/Engraver: Undocumented — no engraver or sculptor credit appears in the design

No dated examples, contemporary sales catalogs, or original sales literature establishing an exact release date for this round have been located. The round is attributed to 1987 based on a documented, defensible corporate event: American Medallion Corporation, Inc. was originally incorporated as Texas International Mint, Inc. on August 7, 1986, and legally changed its name to American Medallion Corporation, Inc. on May 18, 1987, per Texas Secretary of State filings. Robert E. Westfall Inc., the round’s issuer and distributor, was organized in 1987. The Cartoon Celebrities Series as a whole is documented to circa 1987 production. This round carries the “MADE IN USA BY AMC” reverse legend rather than the earlier Texas International Mint (TIM) marking, consistent with issue after the May 1987 name change. The 1987 attribution should be read as attribution, not certainty, pending discovery of contemporary documentation establishing an exact release date.

Per site standard, the spelled-out manufacturer legend “MADE IN USA BY AMC” on the reverse counts as this round’s Mint Mark. The Mint Mark field value is recorded as AMC, distinct from the literal reverse legend text quoted above.

1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round Notes

• The reverse design is the shared Cartoon Celebrities series reverse, used across all documented characters in the line, not unique to this issue.
• A small circular monogram is struck into the obverse field beneath the “A” in “BRENDA,” separate from the “© TMS” copyright mark. It has not been conclusively identified and is flagged here as an open research item.
• This round is the standard one troy ounce .999 fine silver strike. A separate color-printed silver medallion variant is documented for the Cartoon Celebrities series generally, with an estimated production of approximately 50 per character; that variant is distinct from the piece catalogued in this entry and is not represented here.
• Diameter, thickness, and edge type are pending confirmation from caliper measurement and physical inspection of the example on hand. The series is generally documented with a reeded edge on silver issues; this has not yet been confirmed against this specific example.

1987 Brenda Starr Reporter AMC Cartoon Celebrities Silver Round References

• American Medallion Corporation (AMC) — The Texas Stacker
• Robert E. Westfall Inc. — The Texas Stacker
• AMC Cartoon Celebrities Series — The Texas Stacker
• “Cartoon Celebrities” — thephantom.fan, collectibles reference page documenting series packaging, checklist, and the color medallion variant
• Brenda Starr, Reporter — Wikipedia
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives

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