Vote in Nevada Magazine’s Best of Nevada readers’ poll

Nevada Magazine’s annual Best of Nevada readers’ poll is now available online at nevadamagazine.com. The 14th annual poll allows readers to weigh in on categories ranging from Best Casino, Restaurant, and Show to Best Place to Take the Kids.

Results will be published in the July/August 2011 issue and on nevadamagazine.com in mid-June. “We encourage everyone to go to our website and vote for their favorites, in Las Vegas, Reno, and our small towns and rural areas,” says Publisher Janet Geary.

To vote, visit the nevadamagazine.com homepage and click on the Best of Nevada 2011 link. You do not need to fill out all the categories to submit your survey. However, two lucky voters who complete their ballots will win a complimentary Nevada-themed book package and first-season “Bonanza” DVD set. Voting ends on Friday, April 15.

The 2008 through 2010 Best of Nevada winners can be viewed at nevadamagazine.com.

In Nevada Magazine’s March/April 2011 issue

Nevada Magazine’s March/April issue — the Pony Express Territory Special Edition — is now available on newsstands throughout Nevada. In it are features on “The Loneliest Road in America” (U.S. Highway 50) and a roundup of central Nevada towns. Also highlighted are central Nevada’s parks and recreation areas, off-the-beaten-path destinations, noteworthy events, and a history story about Kennecott Copper Corporation, which was headquartered in McGill for many years.

As part of its 75th anniversary, the magazine is highlighting Nevada’s six “Territories” in 2011, customizing each of the year’s six issues to honor Las Vegas Territory, Reno-Tahoe Territory, Pony Express Territory, Indian Territory, Cowboy Country, and Nevada Silver Trails. The May/June 2011 issue will cover Northern Nevada’s Cowboy Country.

March/April 2011 cover image by Mike Sevon.

2011 Photo Contest

For complete Great Nevada Picture Hunt submission rules, click here.

Northwest Territorial Mint

After crossing the finish line of a marathon or other distance race, participants are bestowed a medal to commemorate their achievement—a symbol of the journey they made to reach the finish line. Although few runners consider it, those shiny pieces of metal underwent quite the journey to reach the finish line as well.

Many such medals and numerous other commemorative and honorary medallions start their journeys at Medallic Art Company and Northwest Territorial Mint in Dayton, the largest private mint in the country. A marathoner myself, I never considered the journey these baubles made to reach me; that is, until I had the chance to tour the mint recently.

Medallions, medals, coins, and the like start as ideas, which can vary from concepts, photos, and rough sketches to finished artwork. Medallic’s in-house artists take clients’ concepts and adapt them to work on the faces of a product.

First, a plaster model roughly three to four times the size of the finished product is made. From that an inverse of the model, called a die shell, is created. Die shells, which are still three to four times larger than the final medallion or coin, are then put onto special machines that reduce their size to create a die used to press the actual product. Coin and medallion blanks—such as the silver ones that are melted, poured, and formed onsite—are then pressed into form with up to 600 tons of pressure. Depending on their design, some coins and medallions have to be pressed, heated, and pressed again up to 12 times.

Some products are ready to be sent to the customer after the pressing is done, but for many, a series of treatments stand between them and their eager recipients. To give a medal or coin the appearance of higher relief, it is tarnished and then polished, leaving dark stain in the recesses while the raised parts are brought to a glossy shine. This process involves sandblasting, chemical baths, and detailed hand polishing. Although this is the final step for many of Medallic’s products, some receive a final treatment with the application of detailed colored enamels, all hand-painted by expert artists.

Born in the early 1900s in New York City, Medallic Art Company owes it existence to brothers Henri and Felix Weil and the reduction machine they brought from their native France. At the time, metal ornaments in the U.S. were typically cast (the earliest incarnation of Medallic was concerned primarily with creating trinkets to accent ladies’ purses), a process that did not lend itself to great detail in the art.

It was not until 1907 that the company made its first foray into medallions when the company was commissioned to create a medallion commemorating the centennial of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s birth.

The company would continue to grow in business and reputation through several moves and changes in ownership—including a merger with the Northwest Territorial Mint—until July 2009 when it moved to Dayton. Today, Medallic is Dayton’s largest private employer with more than 150 people on the payroll and room to grow.

Story by Charlie Johnston
Photos by Matthew B. Brown (see more photos here).