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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;NorthKorea, post: 1252336, member: 29643&quot;][ATTACH]134856.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]134857.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Hi everyone. I was hoping for an opinion on the award metal shown here. It&#039;s a 1905 Expo award metal (Trantow 15c - engraved, if I&#039;m understanding the naming correctly). It&#039;s currently up for auction, and I&#039;m wondering how much I should bid on the item. I read that they go for $30-$60 for the non-engraved 15a version, and I saw that there was an auction recently where it finished for just slightly over that range. That said, I was hoping someone could render some insight.</p><p><br /></p><p>The medal was awarded for/to:</p><p><br /></p><p>Preferred stock, Tinned salmon, Allen &amp; Lewis, Portland Oregon, USA</p><p><br /></p><p>I was willing to pay up to $150 for this, but the place I&#039;m thinking of buying it from is charging $38 to ship it to me. (They insist on using FedEx.) If I can convince them to ship FCM Insured or Priority Mail Insured, that leaves me with a budget of around $138 less fees. I&#039;m just wondering if it&#039;s worth it to buy.</p><p><br /></p><p>At the current bid, it would cost me $172 or so including fees/shipping based upon the $38 rate. (The current bid is $126.) The auction ends in 50 hours or so, so if anyone happens upon this before then, please give me whatever insight that you might have. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s what I&#039;ve found so far through Google searching today:</p><p><br /></p><p>1) There were three versions: Bronze (15a), Silver-plated (15b), Gold-plated (15c). According to the award box label, the award recipient could opt to have the award engraved or gilt by submission to the Expo. It didn&#039;t indicate a fee on the note.</p><p><br /></p><p>2) These were apparently given out for all sorts of random things. I couldn&#039;t find a list of the different awards.</p><p><br /></p><p>3) Awards originally came in a display box. This medal does not include the box.</p><p><br /></p><p>Combining 1 &amp; 3, I concluded that all awards were issued as non-engraved 15a versions. I&#039;m not sure if you had to actually win the &quot;gold&quot; or &quot;silver&quot; level award to be granted the gilding option. If this is the case, it&#039;s likely that 15a is significantly more widely available than 15b or 15c.</p><p><br /></p><p>4) Heritage Auctions has sold a couple of the 15a version with the boxes, with both finishing in the $200 range with BP. I&#039;m not sure if the box really should carry a $150 value on its own, so I&#039;m assuming that the medals may have become viewed as more marketable (higher value) since the website stating the $30-$60 value was published.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks again![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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