Quote:
Originally Posted by nam71  Thanks for your help, Cadmanco. I'm going to have to think about this for awhile. Maybe I can find out how many were minted. I may not sell it for awhile. You said you wrote a book on mint medals, then I would think you are knowledgeable (sp) on the subject. Where can I get a copy of your book. It wouldn't hurt to learn something about mint medals. Thanks again. Sonny |
My book is on Modern mint medals for the era ~1954 to 1982 with some exceptions, during which the US Mint did not strike Commemorative Halves. It is named "National Commemorative Medals of the United States Mint". I was also one of the co-editors of the recently re-released book on "So-Called Dollars".
My site is at
http://www.jtdean.com/USMedals/
Julian was the author of the book "Medals of the United States Mint - The First century 1792-1892" which shows attribution for your medal.
Did you state that it was in an original box or holder? Depending, this could add nicely to the sale of the item. Again, I stress it must be of the dark chocolate bronze variety to be the piece we are discussing. One of the other co-editors of the above mentioned So-Called Dollar book is a very knowledgeable collector of the "early" US Mint medals. The Heritage prices are probably a pretty good guideline on a retail pricing, realizing the two prices I gave you were on the same piece being sold at two different times. They are not common, but need to be sold in the right market place to realize the best price. Having it authenticated/graded (too large to slab but they provide a photo certification) by NGC is the proper way to handle it. Other grading services probably won't handle it. PCGS typically avoids medals, with exceptions of course.
Here are some mintages, per year, as stated by Julian. keep in mind, US medals were not restricted to being struck in only one year, and were struck typically in several or many years.
1871 (First year struck), 1-gold, 2-silver, 45 in bronze
1872 155 in bronze
1873 2-silver and 10 in bronze
1874 1-silver, 31 in bronze
1875 3-silver
1875/76 (fiscal years) 10 in bronze
1876/77 1-silver and 10 in bronze
1877/78 None
1878/79 10 in bronze
1879 thru 1883 None
1884/85 2 in bronze
As you can see, after the first year, the requests to mint these was less. I did not dig beyond 1884/85. But up till then it appears that they struck only the 1 gold, 9 silver and 273 (if I added correctly). there could have been others struck in years following 1885, but this total probably encompasses most.
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