medal bears a design for the centennial of American Independence, and 1879's depicted the recently deceased Mint Director Henry Linderman. Beginning in 1880, they most often featured the president or Treasury Secretary. The medals in 1901 and from 1903 to 1909 were rectangular, a style popular at the time. The 1920 reverse, by Engraver George T. Morgan, had a design which symbolized the ending of World War I; in 1921, an extra medal was struck in gold, given by the assay commissioners to outgoing President Woodrow Wilson as a mark of respect. The 1936 issuance was a mule of the Mint's medals for the president at the time, Franklin Roosevelt, and the first president, George Washington. Bearing the words, "" on the edge, the medal was prepared in this manner by order of Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross after Mint officials realized that they had forgotten to prepare a special design for an assay medal. The 1950 medal illustrates a meeting of three 1792 officeholders (Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Jay). Although they were officeholders designated by the Mint Act of 1792, no assay took place until 1797, by which time all three had left those offices. There was no specially designed medal in 1954; instead, the assay commissioners, who met in Philadelphia on Lincoln's Birthday, February 12, 1954, chose to receive the Mint's standard presidential medal depicting Abraham Lincoln, with the commissioner's name on the edge. The final medals, 1976 and 1977, were oval and of pewter. The 1977 medal, depicting Martha Washington, was not needed for presentation, as no public assay commissioners were appointed. They were presented to various Mint and other Treasury officials, and when there was public objection, more were struck and were placed on sale for $20 at the mints and other Treasury outlets in 1978. Material was available for about 1,500 medals, and they were initially not available by mail. They were still available in person, and by mail order, in 1980. All Assay Commission medals are extremely rare. Except for the 1977 medal, none is believed to have been issued in a quantity of greater than 200, and in most years fewer than 50 were struck. Additional copies of several 19th-century issues are known to have been illicitly struck; the Mint ended such practices in the early 20th century. The obverse of the 1909