A Tale of Two Medals . . . . . . I have owned this fantastic Bianchi Pope Pius IX architectural medal for quite a while now, and have seen other amazing medals posted to this site. 1868 Pope Pius IX / Vatican Raphael Loggias - 44mm (the Squirrel) I splurged right before my covid Christmas and committed to purchase a Bianchi medal I have long wanted and desired. Well . . . . . . . . . 1854 Pope Pius IX / Consecration of the Basilica of St. Paul - 82mm (the Moose) Introducing, Moose & Squirrel together . . . . . . . Thanks for looking. Z
THAT is the question of the century . . . . . and I would be interested in hearing the answer myself. it will let me know if I bought smart, or overpaid. Both of these medals are obviously created for the Vatican. Being as old as they are, I have no idea how these were originally distributed. Given the quality of this level of Vatican medals, I don't think it likely they were sold as souvenirs in the Vatican gift shop. Most of the Papal Vatican medals were also produced in bronze, silver, and some in gold, with increasing rarity as one would expect. I suspect the larger ones were given to visiting dignitaries or perhaps high ranking officials in the church. The smaller ones may have gone to wealthy patrons or local officials. I am sure someone knows, just not I. But back to the valuation discussion. I find that prices from sellers in Italy are somewhat better than US based sellers. Perhaps there is greater access? Larger supply? More buying power of the US Dollar? Whatever. I tend to shop European sites and Ebay listings when looking for these. The Squirrel medal I got about a year ago from an Italian seller off Etsy. It's cost was a bit over $100 with shipping. The Moose medal I have been looking for quite a while for. I have seen pricing from $1,300 up to over $2,500 for that one - completely out of my range. I was able to secure that one very affordably, in the ~$500 range. I am thinking I did pretty well on that one. One other collector I correspond with that has one offered to sell me his for $1,200. He said he bought it a decade and a half ago for $800. I'm really interested in hearing other opinions, and there are other engravers beside Bianchi that are heavily collected - Leopold Wiener is one. BTW, here is my favorite current Leopold Wiener medal that I own. I'm sure not everyone has seen it . . . . Z
I think you did very well on these. Thee eye appeal on your medals is off the charts. I am huge fan of Jacques Weiner cathedral medals, but have none yet. After I get way more of my debt down then I can buy coins and medals again.
