Info and Help Please:Exonumia 1888 Treasury Gold Lifesaving Medal Marked "Tiffany & Co" on Eagle bar
Que_sai_je
Posts: 101 ✭✭✭
August 4 2019: Still looking for info on any public auction, really old is OK, of one of these with the diving eagle bar marked "Tiffany and Co." So far, no luck. Thank you!
Treasury .999 Gold Life Saving US Mint Medal by Paquet, issued in 1889 dated 1888, with gold eagle suspension bar by Christian Schlaar marked "Tiffany & co." on reverse, with original gold clasp and ribbon. Julian says the manufacture of these bars (also .999 gold according to Mr Kraljevich, big thanks) gave the Mint considerable trouble in manufacture, so contracting to Tiffany is logical.
I located about a half dozen auction records going back to 2005 of other Treasury Gold Lifesaving medals but no sales, photos, or mention of sale of any of the early ones marked "Tiffany". If someone can point me to a commercial sale of a Tiffany marked one, or has real facts about their relative rarity, it would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time!
Comments
Try looking through E-235 Vol 055 available on the Newman Numismatic Portal (NNP). The medal might be mentioned.
I would check Stacks Bowers archives. I think you'll find a number of examples that they've sold over the years
Checked both SB archives and NNP previously, thank you for the suggestions: There are 4-5 listings or mentions of gold medals but none of the very early ones (except a probably unique spectacular 10 ounce gold piece on SB which doesn't have a hangar of course so not relevant).
NNP documents, especially NARA E-1, are filled with references to Life Saving medals - but almost everything is in manuscript so you'll have to search the old fashioned way. Also look in the Medal Fund Account ledgers, E-105, E-105A.
LifeSaving medals were struck in bulk and then engraved and issued as awarded. For example, on Nov. 21, 1887 the State Department paid the Mint $533.40 for 20 gold Life Saving medals. in Dec 1887 the Coiner was paid $462.50 for these medals - $23.125 each - the difference being profit of the Medal Fund. The medal inquired about was probably one of this batch.
The Treasury Dept also paid the Mint $58.75 for 1 gold and 9 silver Life Saving medals including express on Dec 29, and the Coiner was reimbursed $43.50 for the gold medal and $15 for all 9 silver medals on the 31st.
Thank you, I wasn't aware of how to do that, will set aside some time during the week to learn. Sure it will help me in future as well. Much appreciated.
See the updated post - the added info is from E-105
Very Interesting, thank you, though the figures don't add up IMO, have to figure it out. The medal itself (by putting on a scale and lifting the rest) is about 87 grams of pure gold (the 1888 whole thing is 116 grams and the one I have from 1910 is 132 grams) which would put the melt value in 1888 at >$50: $533 for 20 of them is a head scratcher for me. Maybe there was bullion supplied as well?
$23.125 per gold medal is about right for a piece the dimensions of a double eagle made in 0.999 gold. Remember that medals were subject to trimming so weights might not be exact .
A double eagle is 34mm Ø x2.4mm=volume of 2.18cm3. This medal is much larger: (by my cheap calipers) 41mm Ø x 3.5mm. Those figures yield a volume of 4.6 cm3. Gold density of 19.3g/cm3 gives expected weight of 89 grams which is within a few percent of my scale. Gold price of ~$19/Troy Oz in 1888 yields ~$54 melt value for this particular medal.
I'm not arguing your reading of the documents, but perhaps they do not refer to these exact medals. The one I have issued 2 decades later is >10% heavier. I suppose the weight could have varied considerably through the years but 60% less just prior to 1888 seems highly unlikely to me.
August 4 2019: Still looking for info on any public auction, really old is OK, of one of these with the diving eagle bar marked "Tiffany and Co." So far, no luck. Thank you!
For what its worth each of these Gold Live Saving Medals are extremely rich in history....
For example the one you mention above concerns Captain Alfred Mitchell of Buffalo NY who saved the lives of twelve crew of the steamer Annie Young that was in peril in October of 1890......
The Gold Lifesaving Medal is civil and military decorations of the United States Coast Guard which was first established by Act of Congress, 20 June 1874; later authorized by Title 14 of the United States Code Section 500-501 (14 USC 500–501).
These decorations are two of the oldest medals in the United States and were originally established at the Department of Treasury Lifesaving Medals First and Second Class. The Department of the Treasury initially gave the award, but today the United States Coast Guard awards it through the Department of Homeland Security .
Thank you, any help appreciated. The early history of this medal is cited in its entirety on the Coast Guard Website:
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/Award-Recipients/Gold-Lifesaving-Medal/
This medal is actually for an earlier incident: scroll down to Nov 1888 and hit the "+" to expand the text for this particular medal.
Maybe the medal was the Treasury version which was larger but of 0.900 gold....?
The payment figures you cite still cannot be for these medals:
First off 90% that would be a difference of 10% from your citation, and we actually have a discrepancy of 150%.
Second :They were always struck in pure gold, that was part of the legislation. Hangars too according to Mr Kraljevich, whom I trust w/o reservation on this kind of stuff. Also showed it to the most trusted gold buyer NY Jewelry exchange who said hangar seemed pure to him but I didn't let him scrape it.
Third: Tiffany would have marked a Karat fineness if less than pure: that was, and I still believe is, the law.
Fourth: There are a few other auction records of medals from 1890s and later which state total weight of ensemble within a very small % of this one.
Julian says this was essentially a large cash award in gold, $50-$60 in gold = 2 months take home for an average farm worker in 1888, one month's wages for a skilled craftsman. Reasonable to conclude, supported by sales records, the ones that were not melted tend to be from the few recipients who were Sea Captains and professionals and preferred owning the medal to having cash.
Thanks for the added information. Keep us posted!
I’ll Have to double check. The coast guard site seems to be written by a storyteller. My research is strictly from maritime records and original reports. Interesting the amount of Mitchell’s in the area!!!!
Some marginal new info. Had this XRF'd at the ANA. Medal is .999 but the bar by Tiffany is roughly .875 to .900. Difference in gold value to 24Kt is and was minimal so I suspect it had to do with properly casting the intricate Diving Eagle bar, assuming that casting it in pure gold would have been problematic.