A design created by Marc Mellon of Redding, Conn., has been selected for the official bling of Barack Obama's inauguration as the 44th president of the United States.
"Mints around the country hired artists throughout the country to create designs of both Obama and McCain," Mellon told the NewsTimes. "I feel humbled and fortunate that I was chosen to have the opportunity to help commemorate this historic moment."
The design conceived by Mellon, who has sculpted both Ronald Reagan and Teddy Roosevelt in the past, was chosen from those submitted by more than a dozen mints around the country.
"When I discovered that official inaugural medallions of the past were designed by such renown sculptors as Paul Manship, who did the JFK medallion and did one for FDR, too, and August St. Gaudens, who did the Theodore Roosevelt medallion, my interest in designing and creating one was even more piqued," said Mellon.
Obama, who has proven to have a gift for separating people from their money, will be selling the medallions cast in bronze, silver or gold.
