Jackson Hope Gold Medal - Help Needed

A gentleman approached me looking to evaluate/sell a family heirloom he had inherited. It is the Jackson Hope medal from 1881 which is issued to the top student in each year’s graduating class at V.M.I. The medal is gold and weighs 2.6oz. I have so far been unable to uncover any information on the medal or find any past auction comps. The seller has contacted the American Civil War museum which as the 1885 issue of the award in their collection but they were not helpful with placing a value on it.
I’m here hoping someone can shed some light on the piece and potentially assist in appraising it.

Thanks, as always!

 

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I'm a pretty good "finder" of things, and yeah, even VMI doesn't really give many details. I wonder who "mints" them for the school?

 

https://acwm.pastperfectonline.com/Webobject/18164EC2-4F3C-4C37-B8CA-927215254534

 

Value? Not a clue, but to an aficionado of VMI, priceless.......

 

It might also have extra value to the family of the one who originally received it. I can't quite make out the name from the photo.

 

https://vmi.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15821coll7/id/80

 

Beautiful medal and it's certainly rare! I would take it to a coin shop or jeweler who has an xrf scanner, get it scanned to see the gold content, likely 10k but nobody knows until you check. Rarity will pump up the price nicely, maybe it's the only one minted, you never know!

 

Although, re-reading the original post, it seems at least someone in the family is the would-be seller, so I guess not.

 

I reached out to people at the Jackson-Hope Fund and the Archives Department at VMI. We'll see if they get back to me.

*Update* Well, the Archives Dept got back to me with a bit history of both the Medal Program and of Cadet Sloss (the recipient). No specifications on the Medal itself. Maybe that will come from the J-H Fund people who are in charge of the process itself.

 

Thank you all so much for trying to track down information on this medal and on the recipient. Hopefully we can get all the way to the bottom of it.