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A (what do I have here) thread
Crypto
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I know it is silver and very high relief, size of a dime and maybe double thick.
Main questions
Is it really 1864 ?
Mint made?
Or Token?
Any insights welcome and appreciated
Cool thing to share either way! Be safe all
8
Comments
I poked around on Google, and here's what I think I know:
This was a medal produced by the Philadelphia mint between 1864-66.
It was issued in both silver and gold.
The obverse was designed by Anthony Paquet, the reverse (Lincoln) by William Barber.
I saw claims (unverified) that fewer than 75 of these medals are extant.
It's not clear to me what the difference is between J-PR-30 and J-PR-31.
Here's a decent article on medals of the period:
https://ngccoin.com/news/article/7017/Paquet-Medalets/
That's nice!
Lincoln was running for re-election in 1864 so it may be a political medal that he handed out to his major supporters.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
I'm pretty sure I've got one in bronze because I did the same research. Now to find where I put it. Peace Roy
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Neat medal.... Two great Americans on one medal.... Cheers, RickO
The Lincoln portrait is highly idealized. Lincoln's nose was larger than that on the medal.
Kinda like a 2 for 1 sale, Eh Ricko?
Pete
Incorrect. Read the link I posted. Another thing I forgot to mention is many restrikes were produced at various times of this and other similar medals of the period.
Being it is a PCGS coin you can go to their website and look it up. The numbers on the front let you to this, which I see you might have done already to get the trueview? On there you can also click the link to the first set of numbers, which is the database ID for the issue. This has the coin listed as a US Mint coin by the way. I see that PCGS lists only one coin registered for this grade, the one you own. The image appears to match the coin, the slab looks authentic and not opened. Since your images are behind plastic, just compare the coin to the trueview and it appears all the marks on the coin are the same.
How did you acquire this, if you do not mind sharing?
I bought it a few years ago as it was interesting and threw it in a box. Any silver special proof form the mint in the 1860 is worth a 2nd look.
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
Very nice medal. As intimated above, the mint cranked out a bunch of these in bronze over the years, which are very common, The period silver medal is scare in my experience. Nice historical piece,
What you have there is a Cool Medal
Steve
pouff
I believe the dies used on the Lincoln side are different.
There are many variations of these small presidential medallettes. Many different dies, many different metals, some struck at the mint and others presumably done outside the mint, and some struck periodically all the way up until the 1980s.
As for this particular piece, it appears to be an early US Mint strike, however I would not consider it rare in silver.
I wish I paid more attention to this series because a collection would be interesting, challenging, and likely full of unlisted varieties.
thanks, I agree with #goldenegg
Shows you what treasures are at the periphery of our hobby
11.5$ Southern Dollars, The little “Big Easy” set
it's listed by both Julian and Baker in their respective references.
Julian 31
Baker 246, listed as an R7.
it seems the difference between PR-30 and PR-31 is that with PR-30 Paquet engraved both dies, PR-31 had Barber do the reverse/Lincoln as noted by his initial.
Barber actually engraved three different Lincoln dies for this GW // AL combination. This (Julian PR-31) is the 3rd Barber die and the only one with his B signature on the truncation of Lincoln's neck. It is also listed as GW-452 in the outstanding "Medallic Washington" catalog(s) by Neil Musante, probably the best exonumia catalog published so far this century (IMHO). Musante dates it circa 1875 and lists it as scarce (C-S-VS-R-VR-U scale) estimating 128 to 511 pieces extant.
Lots of mules created with the Lincoln dies. Some with Grant, the broken column, Washington. Probably more I can't think of right now.
Were any larger ones made? I like my medals big and heavy, especially when created in 3D relief like this one where they rival sculptures.
Cool medal nevertheless!
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I'm pretty sure I bought a bronze restrike at the San Francisco mint back in the 1980's.
Nice piece.
I had some thoughts while scrolling but @GoldenEgg
covered it well.
I have seen many of these pieces and wouldn't consider them rare but scarcer in nice condition like yours.
I generally prefer the look of older, larger, bronze medals. Interestingly, this is one of only a few pieces that I prefer in silver.
One other that comes to mind is also a small piece with an HK #
It's a "cool" medal, I like it !!!