Cointalkers!!! I really need your help here! This is a medal that I got from my good friend to help authenticate it. His father purchased this medal back in the early 80's for $350.00 We would both like to know if this is an original or a restrike? We both know that it looks like it has been cast but is it really old? Does anyone have any info on this? Tom
No, I don't. But I was able to Google the following: From American Passages: An obvious replica here. An example was reported by Rich Hartzog to have sold for $106,425. A pewter restrike was part of the Harry W. Bass Collection: Hope this helps.
I do know something about these. And this does appear to be an original and it grades in at around VF-35 details (pitted, holed).
This is an area of collecting that I would like to get into but as for now I dont know much about them. I do know there are alot of copies out there and originals are hard to find and expensive when you do find them. Sorry I cant offer more.
Indianhead, if this topic interests you, you should pick up a reference book on the subject. I have a copy of Indian Peace Medals and Related Items: Collecting the Symbols of Peace and Friendship, by Rita Laws, Ph.D., copyright 2005. You might find it to be of interest.
The way the pitting appears only in the fields implies casting to me, causing me to question its authenticity.
Sorry for not responding sooner tdec1000, but my available time to stop in here is extremely limited. Thanks for picking up my slack Isaiah.
Virtually all of these with the 1757 date are restricts or cast copies. The 1757 dies were salvaged by the U.S. Mint. The original dies were cracked, and replaced with a copy. The mint produced restricts from the newer dies until about 1988. The value of this particular cast copy is about $10.
