Question about 1915 HK-422 U.S. Expositions So-Called Dollar
SG58
Posts: 63 ✭✭✭
These HK-422's are usually seen in gilt bronze. I don't see this one listed in Jeff Shevlin's book. Is this a different variety or has the gilt been removed and somebody silver plated it?
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IF the piece was at one time gilt (gold plated), then it would be possible to silver plate over the gold without having to remove the gold. In fact, the gold plating would make a good substrate for silver plating over it.
However, somehow the piece shown doesn't necessarily look plated to me.
Nice SC... does not have the look of a plated item...Is it an item you own? What does the edge look like? Cheers, RickO
agreed, check the edge.
BHNC #203
Here is the reverse. The reverse is rotated 90 degrees (or so) to a medal turn. The edge is a completely plain silver/gray color. No embossing or numerals of any kind. Weighs in at 20.5 grams, 35.6 mm. Could be a white metal counterfeit.
weigh it but I think it is Silver.
20.5 grams
at 36mm. that may mean it is bronze, but you can check the weight of a known metal medal.
Intriguing piece. I also considered whether it might be a counterfeit. Based on the pictures, I think it isn't a counterfeit.. but that doesn't get me any closer to saying what it is.
Unusually ugly and cluttered - what committee designed it?
I like the design. The golden gate motif is nice and it provides and insight into what was important back then.
It's not a single, strong allegorical design, but then I appreciate differences in design. Not every era needs to value the same designs.
To my eye, the lettering and numbering on the reverse appears to be different. Especially the year and city names for Chicago, St Louis, Nashville, Atlanta and Omaha appear to be thicker than my example. The 8's and the 9's in the date appear to be filled in round areas of the numbers like the medal might have been plated.
These pictures appear to be the same medal. It now appears to me that it was gilt bronze that was silver plated. The medal was dipped to remove dark toning and spots to lighten it up. The original pictures appear to show some slight evidence of the gilt layer, which is not apparent now. John Raymond's 2018 tally of SCD population on his website shows an entry for "HK-422 silver plate", but there are no items indicated there. This observation seems to be in line with what others have indicated.
Looks silver plated to me. Do a specific gravity test.