Check this out - 1985 China 1 Oz. Silver This medal is not just rare with a mintage of only 500 pieces, it is also has an error. Minted to commemorate the 94th Conference of the ANA in Baltimore and the China Mint Company's first invitation to join. The obverse shows the ANA logo and the reverse bears the Great Wall of China. -- This is where it gets interesting -- Due to carelessness, the English words "THE GREAT WALL" was carved backwards... Selling for about $4000.00 now Not my coin -
I have a great story about this CM Medal. It was discovered as an error at my 1985 Baltimore ANA Table - but not by me ! It's Kinda long, and I just got into my office, so I probably won't have the time to post the story till later today, or in the next few days.
The China Mint started it's modern minting of coins in 1979, and by 1982, premiered the Panda Coin program - which turned out to be incredibly successful, after the first year of slow sales. I had a good relationship with Marty Weiss of Panda America, (since 1973) and and in 1985 I had my own company - and the ANA in Baltimore that year was to be the very first ANA that I would have my own table, instead of working for another company. (Numismatics, Ltd.) The China Mint announced that they would, for the very first time, strike a silver medal commemorating THEIR first ANA (or any coin show) - one side had the ANA logo and wording, and the other side showed a very nice section of The Great Wall of China. Mintage was 500 pieces, and they were issued in small plastic (think Mini-PCGS holder) holders. Retail price was set at $20 each, and although the China Mint (CM) was set up late Monday/first thing Tuesday morning at the ANA Baltimore, they apparently didn't sell any of these medals - (maybe a very few). My wife at the time, Ellen, had worked for Panda America earlier - and she came back to our Table on Wednesday afternoon, saying that the CM was embarrassed, as they were not selling any of their silver medals - I told her it was because they were $20, and silver spot was about $7-$8 at the time, they were overpriced. She said we had to buy some to help out the Mint, so we bought 100 of them for $15 to help them out. I put one in one of my error coin showcases, with the Great Wall side up Wednesday afternoon, and forgot about them. Late Thursday morning or so, an error collector customer of mine was looking at my showcases of errors, pointed to a coin in one of the cases, and said "How much is that Error?" - I saw a double struck something in the case, priced it, and he said, "No, that one --" I said "No, that one's not an error, it from the China Mint' He said "yea, that One", I said no, that's not an error, he said yes it was, I pulled it out of the showcase, and immediately saw what it was - the words 'The Great Wall" were on the coin perfectly BACKWARD, though the words were in order ! Since almost no one at the CM spoke English, I believe that someone there took the design given them, but that copy (or another), was copied in reverse, and so they copied it as they saw it - all of the English letters were backward - who would have known the difference at the time? In any case, by Thursday the issue was sold out, it was a hot topic on the bourse floor, and even the security guards were asking people, as they left the bourse, "Do you have any of those CM medals? I'll pay $100" Yep, they went from unsalable at $20 to hotter than a pistol at $100. I still have three of them from that show - and although they did go up to about $6K a few years ago, they are currently worth about $2,000, maybe a bit more for a 69.
@Fred Weinberg It's now for sale.. https://www.brigandicoin.com/collec...tion-official-show-issue-ngc-pf68-ultra-cameo
