1882 Wm. Penn/Pennsylvania Bicentennial Medal

Leiana · December 2, 2006 4:26AM

Here's an oddment from my collection.

I really like the design, the reverse especially. The Pennsylvania Coat of Arms is on their flag and it was on all of the monuments for PA regiments at Gettysburg. Plus I am rather fond of horses.

The date is given as 1882, and the text of the medal says the Philadelphia Mint Employees (this would be while they were at the second Mint building) distrubuted it during the bicentennial celebrations.

I would grade it AU, you can clearly see rub on Penn's nose and on the horses' bridles. Plus there's some black stuff on the obverse.

The edge is plain, and I am fairly certain the composition is bronze.

It's fairly small, also!

Here it is over an Ike dollar for comparison:

Well, I just thought I would share what I consider to be a neat little piece.

If anybody knows anything more about this medal, feel free to share!

Thanks!

-Amanda

NumisOxide · December 2, 2006 4:51AM

Neat medal. I've seen a couple of these offered on ebay before.

Barndog · December 2, 2006 4:53AM

the more medals I see, the more I am tugged to start collecting them!

Leiana · December 2, 2006 5:20AM

Thanks, John.

This one came from eBay!

<< <i>the more medals I see, the more I am tugged to start collecting them! >>

I agree! I have a few now, and they are all different and artistic in their own ways!

-Amanda

jonathanb · December 2, 2006 5:24AM

Heh. I was going to post something on this very subject. Check back in a few hours...

fcloud · December 2, 2006 5:27AM

Mine looks a bit more worn than yours. I really think these are cool.

Leiana · December 2, 2006 6:06AM

<< <i>Heh. I was going to post something on this very subject. Check back in a few hours... >>

I look forward to it!

fcloud, I like the look of yours! Perhaps it was a pocket piece?

-Amanda

fcloud · December 2, 2006 6:20AM

Amanda,

I would guess pocket piece, too. The nose is flat!

jonathanb · December 2, 2006 8:17AM

This is what Julian has to say about this US Mint medal:

"
These medals were originally struck in brass for distribution during the parade of October 24, 1882. Elaborate plans were made by a special committee of mint officers and workmen headed by Coiner Oliver C. Bosbyshell to have 250 men specially dressed in the parade line. There was to be a wagon drawn by six horses, carrying a steam press, from which newly-struck medals would be thrown to the crowds. Bosbyshell arranged for 50,000 brass planchets while the official city committee subscribed for another 25,000. All 75,000 were struck and distributed. These were, of course, unbronzed, but pieces struck since that time (in the mint), for sale to collectors, have had the regular bronzing applied after striking.

There was considerable newspaper publicity about the medals being struck during the parade and collectors from around the country made application to Superintendent Snowden for the medals. At first these applications were refused, but it is probably that the mint began striking them for sale because of the demand.

Two gold and one hundred silver medals were reported in the fiscal 1883 report.
"

This is a silver version. I need to get a better picture, but it's currently at NGC for slabbing. In addition to nicely mirrored cameo surfaces, it has a very square edge. I submitted it as a proof; we'll see how it is labeled when it comes back.

This one I bought yesterday and is the reason I was going to post anyway. This is an odd duck. The surfaces are very smooth and the lettering is sharp, but the edges are not square. The chocolate brown color is typical of 19th century US Mint products. My best guess is that this might be one of the "pieces struck since that time (in the mint) for sale to collectors, [which] have had the regular bronzing applied after striking."

This is the first of this pieces that I purchased, over a year ago. It's clearly Unc rather than Proof, but much nicer than these are usually found. If you asked me, though, I would say that the coloring looks more like copper than brass. I assume that it really is one of the 75,000 brass pieces that Julian describes, but I can't account for the coloring.

This one clearly is brass, but not of 1882 vintage. This is the "yellow brass" that is typical of 20th century ("modern") US Mint restrikes. The surfaces are uniformly matte across the design, lettering, and fields.

Anyone know where I can get one of the two gold specimens?

jonathan

Leiana · December 2, 2006 8:22AM

Very interesting!

Good luck with the silver one.

You have answered my unasked question-- were these produced any year other than 1882.

I see now that they were.

How does one determine the vintage of a particular piece? Is mine one of the ones struck in the parade or was it made for sale later?

I think it's very cool that they struck them in the parade.

Wouldn't they have been really hot, though, right after they were struck?

Thanks for such an informative post.

-Amanda

jonathanb · December 2, 2006 9:12AM

Amanda, I assume that yours was struck at the parade, and I would guess the same of fcloud's, but that's just playing the odds. With 75,000 struck during the parade, the ones that weren't struck that day would be the rare ones.

The appearance of yours matches the appearance of my third pic, which matches the appearance of most of the ones I've seen. The modern restrikes are very easy to identify in person. Although it can be difficult to rule out the possibliity of something being a modern restrike just from a picture, your pic is good enough that I can be pretty confident that yours isn't modern. The fields look much too smooth (but not smooth enough to match my second pic).

Shrug. I think that these are neat, but I don't claim to be an expert either. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has info.

jonathan

Leiana · December 2, 2006 9:26AM

Oh wow, I think that's so cool!

Thanks!

-Amanda

1882 Wm. Penn/Pennsylvania Bicentennial Medal

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