Canal Medals Catalog (CM)

Below is a catalog or list of official medals issued by the French canal company, the Panama Canal Company, the Panama Canal Commission, and selected other Panama Canal related medals. If you have a medal that you think belongs in this catalog, please . Thank you!

Summary

Canal Medals were issued to encourage investment (by the Franch canal company), to honor and encourage employees (by the American canal company), and to commemmorate special events (various). Some of the medals such as the Roosevelt medals were intended to be worn. Others are "table-top" medals which are larger in size (some are 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches). Yet others are the size of silver dollars or smaller and are perhaps intended as pocket pieces to carry around. Mintage of many of these medals was quite limited and the medals are highly prized by ex-employees of the Panama Canal and their descendents as well as collectors.

Collecting Canal Medals

Collecting all the canal medals in this catalog would be quite difficult, but is possible to acquire examples of most of them given enough money (several thousand dollars) and patient searching for sales on eBay and elsewhere.

Pricing

Pricing is based on several factors, which ultimately are supply and demand. How many specimens are available and how many collectors want them. With the canal medals, many were issued in very limited quantities to a select group of people such as stockholders of the French canal company or employees of the Panama Canal Company. These can be only be obtained when a person decides to sell their collection or personal property. Others were issued in larger quantities. I will be providing one price for each piece, which will be based on recent sales which I have observed. This price will be for the medal in average condition. The price on medals in better or worse condition should be adjusted accordingly.

Numbering System

All the canal medals have been designated with the letters "CM" and placed in groups based on varieties. Within the group each medal variety is given a unique number. For instance, the French Canal Roty medal is CM-5.1 and the Roosevelt medals are CM-10.0, CM-10.1, CM-10.2, etc. Permission is hereby granted to anyone to use the numbers below in referring to these tokens, in print or electronic media, by calling them Plowman's CM-x.x at least once, or referencing www.coins-of-panama.com. However, I reserve the right to assign all new numbers. Please contact me when a new number is needed.

Click on the catalog number or description below to go to the full listing for that piece.