1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends Silver Round

MintAmerican Medallion Corporation AMC (Houston TX)

IssuerRobert E. Westfall Inc

DistributorRobert E. Westfall Inc

CollectionAMC Mythological Legends Series

Three mermaids on a rocky coast. Foreground mermaid seated on a surf-washed rock with beaded necklaces, girdle, and bangles, her scaled tail ending in a broad fin. Second mermaid diving at left; third seated on a distant outcrop at right. Legend "MERMAIDS of the SEA" arcs across the top.

Puff-cheeked storm cloud above lightning, rain, and a curling wave. "MYTHOLOGICAL LEGENDS" across the center; "1 OZ. 999 FINE SILVER MADE BY AMC" along the lower rim.

1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends Overview

The 1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends Silver Round is a 1 Troy ounce .999 fine silver round struck by American Medallion Corporation (AMC) of Houston, Texas, and issued and distributed by Robert E. Westfall Inc. It is one of the seven designs in the AMC Mythological Legends Series, along with Angel of the Gods, Eros, Hiawatha, Vampire, Voodoo, and Werewolf. Every round in the set pairs its own obverse subject with the same storm-cloud reverse.

Most of the series shows a single figure: a portrait or a lone standing creature. Mermaids of the Sea is different. It is a full landscape with three figures, a foreground and background, a horizon line, and engraved water across most of the field. The design puts its detail into texture: overlapping tail scales, beaded jewelry, layered locks of hair, and breaking surf. Of the seven subjects, it is the most painterly.

The subject comes from one of the oldest seafaring legends. Fish-tailed sea women have been told of from ancient Mediterranean stories through northern European folklore, where sailors’ accounts cast them as both beautiful and dangerous: luring ships toward the rocks, or appearing on the shore before a storm. The design echoes that tradition. The mermaids sit and dive among rocks at the water’s edge, and on the other side of the round the reverse shows the storm rolling in over the sea.

1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends Attribution

Mint: American Medallion Corporation (AMC), Houston, TX Issuer: Robert E. Westfall Inc Distributor: Robert E. Westfall Inc Designer / Engraver: Unknown

The round carries no struck date. No dated examples, period catalogs, or original sales literature for Mermaids of the Sea, or for the Mythological Legends series as a whole, have been located. The reverse legend spells out the maker as “MADE BY AMC,” and that legend is the round’s Mint Mark. The 1987 date rests on a documented event: 1987 is the year the company adopted the American Medallion Corporation name and the “AMC” mark. The round is therefore attributed to 1987, pending discovery of contemporary documentation establishing an exact release date.

1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends Notes

• Struck in one Troy ounce of .999 fine silver with a reeded edge.
• The reverse legend is struck as “1 OZ. 999 FINE SILVER MADE BY AMC,” with no leading decimal point before “999.”
• The obverse is a three-figure seascape: a seated foreground mermaid, a diving mermaid at left, and a seated background mermaid at right.
• Part of the seven-round Mythological Legends set (Angel of the Gods, Eros, Hiawatha, Mermaids of the Sea, Vampire, Voodoo, and Werewolf). The original collector album has spaces for exactly seven rounds.
• No mintage figures or original issue price have been located. Numista gives this design a rarity index of 100 out of 100, the highest scarcity rating among its tracked collections.
• No engraver’s initials were found on the obverse of the example examined. By comparison, the Vampire round in the same series carries the initials “KH.”

1987 Mermaids of the Sea AMC Mythological Legends References

• AMC Mythological Legends Series — The Texas Stacker
• American Medallion Corporation AMC (Houston TX) — The Texas Stacker
• Robert E. Westfall Inc — The Texas Stacker
• Numista — “1 Ounce Silver – Mermaids of the Sea (Mythological Legends – AMC),” N# 370989
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives

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Other Coins in this Collection: AMC Mythological Legends Series

1987 Angel of the Gods AMC Mythological Legends Silver Round1987 Hiawatha AMC Mythological Legends Silver Round1987 Vampire AMC Mythological Legends Silver Round1987 Voodoo AMC Mythological Legends1987 Werewolf AMC Mythological Legends

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