The United States Mint is going to make its forth, and hopefully successful, attempt to put the United States Air Force 2.5 ounce silver medal on sale today. Since the beginning of 2021, the Mint has delayed the sale of the medal for either supply demands or concerns over its website stability. The Mint, to its credit, explained the situation after the last delay and hopefully have sorted out the issues and concerns. Maybe the forth time is the charm.
The United States Air Force silver medal, honoring the second youngest branch of the United State military, will go on sale at Noon Eastern, 9:00 AM Pacific. Sales of the 2.5-ounce silver medal will only be available directly from the United States Mint’s website. The medal is priced at $160.00. The Mint has also changed the production and household limits for the medal. When it was originally announced, there was no limits on either. Now, there will only be 10,000 of the medals produced with a household limit of 1 medal.
This will be the fourth time that the United States Mint has indicated that it will start sales of the medal, with two false starts happening back in February. Sales never started due to the ongoing bullion shortage and now the Mint feels confident they can get the medal out to the public and have gone as far as to advertise its availability starting today.
Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the Air Force was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and the fourth in order of precedence.
The obverse design depicts a fighter jet pilot, flying alongside F-35 fighter jets with a stylized landscape below.
This reverse design features a dynamic perspective of the three spires of the Air Force Memorial, with one of the spires piercing the border of the medal into the beyond. Surrounding the memorial are members of the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard in ceremonial assembly.
The medal itself is two inches in diameter, 2.5 troy ounce in weight and composed of 99.9% silver in a matte finish.