Featured The 1876 United States Centennial Exposition Medals

You have an original set of pressed wood 1876 centennial medals. The box appears go be in decent condition, which makes it better than mine. The last I knew, the value was in the $300 to $400 range.

 

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I have 2 of these medals. A 76mm and a 57mm. Here are pics.

 

Here is an 70mm award medal also made by P. Krider Philadelphia.

 

This 1876 centennial medal is fairly common because one was awarded to each of the individuals and companies that mounted exhibits at the fair. The mintage was in the hundreds, but I can't find the exact number at the moment.

 

I paid quite a bit over the medal value for this one because of the box and slip cover sleeve. I removed it and put it in an airtite to try to stop the toning. This is the silver version.

 

Nice medals up there, all of them! Here's a Token I got from 1876 from well known die sinker John W. Kline, it has a couple of dings but that's okay as the really nice aren't meant for my budget!

 

Here's another 1876 token, super cool year especially in Philadelphia, Penna with "the Philadelphia Centennial Celebration." and all. This is a rare token being the first lady, not many Martha tokens exist! Yeah mines is banged up a bit but still looks great to me!

 

Why is this not a featured article?

 

I believe that it already is featured.

 

Long reads are great when they are this interesting. Some beautiful pieces shown here, I mean really beautiful.

 

The great part is that U.S. tokens and medals are cheaper than U.S. coins because the market is much smaller. That has been changing a bit in recent years. The last time I tried to buy some 19th century presidential medals, I got blown out of the water. Some of that might be due to the fact that the mint is selling reproductions of these medals in silver. The original pieces in bronze are better.

 

Most old tokens and medals in white metal are beat up. White medal is really soft and easily marked. If the alloy is of a certain type, “tin pest” can be a problem too.

 

Good point John! Here's a couple more medals that I bought over the years. The first two medals are designs made by George B. Soley and they're so called dollars. I used to collect Soley medals and tokens, not so much anymore but I have other pics from my collection in the gallery/ my album here on CT. Below is a Soley link of one of his many prayer tokens!

https://coins.ha.com/itm/u.s.-trade...BrowseTabs-Auction-Archive-ThisAuction-120115