The United States Mint will open sales for the Warren G. Harding Presidential Silver Medal on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at noon EDT, priced at $164 per piece. One troy ounce of .999 fine silver, Morgan-designed obverse, and a president most collectors couldn't pick out of a lineup. That last part might actually work in this release's favor.
Harding — the 29th president, in office from 1921 until his death in 1923 — doesn't carry the cultural weight of a Lincoln or a Kennedy. But in the Presidential Silver Medal series, obscurity has occasionally translated into collector interest after the fact, particularly when mintages come in lean. The Mint hasn't announced a production cap for this release, which is standard for the series, but sell-through pace on prior medals has varied considerably depending on the subject.
Morgan's Fingerprints on a Modern Mint Release
The design credit here is the real story. George T. Morgan — the same engraver behind the iconic Morgan Dollar series struck from 1878 to 1921 — originally created the portrait used on this medal. The U.S. Mint is adapting his work for the silver medal format, which gives this release a legitimate numismatic pedigree that a lot of modern commemoratives simply don't have.
Morgan's portrait work was meticulous. His rendering of Harding dates to the early 1920s, and seeing it translated onto a one-ounce silver canvas is the kind of design continuity that serious numismatists appreciate. This isn't a committee-designed modern issue with soft relief and generic symbolism. It carries the hand of one of American coinage's most consequential artists.
For context: Morgan Dollar examples in MS-65 routinely clear $200–$400 at Heritage and Stack's Bowers depending on date and mintmark, with key dates like the 1893-S reaching into six figures in top grades. The medals won't trade anywhere near those levels, but the Morgan connection gives collectors a legitimate reason to care beyond the silver melt value.
Where This Fits in the Presidential Medal Series
The Presidential Silver Medal program has been running long enough to develop its own secondary market dynamics. Early releases in the series — particularly those tied to more prominent historical figures — have held value reasonably well in raw form, and a small but active grading population exists across NGC and PCGS for collectors who want slabbed examples.
At $164, the Harding medal is priced at a modest premium over spot. Silver is currently trading in the mid-$30s per troy ounce, which means buyers are paying roughly $125–$130 in premium over melt on day one. That's not unusual for a Mint direct release, and it compresses significantly if silver continues its 2025 trajectory upward.
- Release date: May 13, 2026, noon EDT
- Price: $164 per medal
- Composition: 1 troy ounce, .999 fine silver
- Designer: George T. Morgan (original portrait)
- Subject: Warren G. Harding, 29th President of the United States
- Series: U.S. Mint Presidential Silver Medal program
Orders can be placed directly through the U.S. Mint's website. There's no household order limit announced at this time, which typically signals the Mint isn't anticipating a sellout scenario — but Morgan-branded releases have surprised before.
Harding's historical reputation has been through cycles of reassessment. He's no longer quite the punchline he was for decades after the Teapot Dome scandal. Whether that cultural rehabilitation extends to collector demand for his silver portrait is another question entirely — but at one ounce of Morgan-designed silver for $164, the floor here is pretty well defined.