1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal

MintUnited States Mint

IssuerSan Antonio Fair, Inc. (San Antonio, TX)

DistributorSan Antonio Fair, Inc. (San Antonio, TX)

A stylized hand pinches the HemisFair emblem, a double spiral in a ring, whose tail extends into a tall vertical panel. "HEMISFAIR" reads downward within the panel, with "68" in the open field at right.

A dove with raised wings stands on a ribbon and holds its far end in its beak. The ribbon wraps the design, bearing "250th ANNIVERSARY" above and "SAN ANTONIO · TEXAS" below, with a small "P" mint mark beneath it.

1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal Overview

The 1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal is the bronze striking of the national medal Congress authorized for San Antonio’s 250th anniversary and the world’s fair the city built to celebrate it. The United States Mint struck it at Philadelphia from the same design as the 1968 San Antonio HemisFair Silver Medal, and it was sold by the fair’s own organizing corporation, San Antonio Fair, Inc. Where the silver medal was the premium piece, the bronze carried the same design in the metal the Mint traditionally used for its national medals, at a price within reach of the millions of people the fair expected through its gates.

San Antonio dates its founding to May 1718. That spring a Spanish expedition under Governor Martín de Alarcón reached the headwaters of the San Antonio River, and Franciscan friar Antonio de Olivares established Mission San Antonio de Valero, while Alarcón set up the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar to guard it. The mission would later be known as the Alamo. The civilian town that grew beside the presidio became the oldest major city in Texas, and by the 1960s its leaders saw the 250th anniversary as a chance to show off a modern city rather than a frontier relic.

They chose to do it with a world’s fair. HemisFair ’68 was organized by San Antonio Fair, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation, and built on 96 acres at the southeastern edge of downtown. The Bureau International des Expositions recognized it as an official world’s fair on November 17, 1965, and it ran from April 6 to October 6, 1968, under the theme “The Confluence of Civilizations in the Americas” (HemisFair ’68, Wikipedia). Nations from across the hemisphere and beyond built pavilions, and more than six million visitors attended (BIE, Hemisfair 1968). The fair closed in the red, but it left San Antonio the Tower of the Americas, its convention center, the Institute of Texan Cultures, and the grounds that became Hemisfair Park.

The medal was authorized two years before the gates opened. San Antonio Representative Henry B. González carried H.R. 7526 through the House, and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed it on March 31, 1966, as Public Law 89-382, with González and Senator Ralph Yarborough present. In his remarks, Johnson recalled that he and Lady Bird had been married in San Antonio and called the medal a sign the fair would succeed (The American Presidency Project). The law ordered the Treasury to strike national medals for San Antonio Fair, Inc., let the corporation choose their sizes, metals, and designs subject to Treasury approval, and limited the total to 100,000 pieces, with the corporation paying the Mint’s costs (Public Law 89-382).

The design came from a local artist. Philip John Evett, born in Kent, England, in 1923, had come to the United States in 1954 and was teaching sculpture at Trinity University in San Antonio when he was given the commission (Medal Artists, Evett). He worked in a spare, outlined style that matched the fair’s modern image. On the obverse, a hand holds the HemisFair emblem, the fair’s double-spiral symbol of many cultures flowing together, pinched between thumb and fingers as if presenting it to the viewer. The emblem’s tail runs into a tall upright panel lettered “HEMISFAIR” from top to bottom, and “68” stands alone in the field beside it. The reverse belongs to the anniversary: a dove with raised wings perches on a ribbon and holds its far end in its beak, and the ribbon curls around the scene to carry “250th ANNIVERSARY” above and “SAN ANTONIO · TEXAS” below. The dove speaks to the celebration and to the fair’s hope for friendship among the nations of the Americas, and together the two sides honor both the exposition and the city’s birthday.

1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal Attribution

The year is struck in the obverse legend, “HEMISFAIR 68,” and is confirmed by the authorizing act and the fair’s 1968 dates. Manufacturer is the United States Mint, Philadelphia, established by the struck “P” mint mark and by Public Law 89-382. Issuer and distributor are San Antonio Fair, Inc., for which the act directed the medals be struck and furnished; the corporation chose the design, paid for the striking, and handled sales. Designer is Philip John Evett, per Dean (D1968-1) and Swoger (41).

1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal Notes

• Catalogued as Swoger 41C (bronze); the silver striking is Swoger 41B. Dean catalogs the issue as D1968-1.
• Bronze mintage is not documented.
• Edge serial numbers are documented on some silver medals; none has been documented on the bronze.
• The silver striking has its own entry: 1968 San Antonio HemisFair Silver Medal.
• A separate 1968 HemisFair and San Antonio 250th anniversary medal was struck by Cajun Coins of Mandeville, Louisiana, for local coin clubs hosting the 10th Texas Numismatic Association convention, including a bronze version. It is a different medal from this U.S. Mint issue.

1968 San Antonio HemisFair Bronze Medal References

• Public Law 89-382, 80 Stat. 98 (March 31, 1966)
• The American Presidency Project, “Remarks Upon Signing Bill Authorizing Medals Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Founding of San Antonio” (March 31, 1966)
• House Report 89-1136 (Oct. 11, 1965) and Senate Report 89-1072 (Mar. 15, 1966), Committee on Banking and Currency, to accompany H.R. 7526
• Medal Artists, “Evett, Philip John”
• John T. Dean, National Commemorative Medals of the United States Mint: An Illustrated Catalog (2012), D1968-1
• William Swoger, National Commemorative Medals of the United States Since 1873 (2008), no. 41, pp. 136–137
• NGC Collectors Society, Hemisfair / San Antonio 250th Anniversary Bronze (Swoger 41C)
• Coin World, “Origins of 1968 Texas medals”
• BIE, “1968 San Antonio”
• HemisFair ’68, Wikipedia
• 1968 San Antonio HemisFair Silver Medal, The Texas Stacker
• United States Mint, The Texas Stacker
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives

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