Do you think this medal is really Silver??
keets
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The medal pictured below is being auctioned by Heritage as HK-12a, to commemorate the Pacific Railway Completion and issued in 1869 and subsequent years by the U.S. Mint. Heritage and PCGS insert both note it as being Silver while it has the clear appearance of being Bronze. What am I missing??
Tell me what you think, is it really Silver but toned unlike anything I've ever seen or is it a PCGS "mechanical error" followed by the same Heritage mistake??
Al H.
link to PCGS cert page --- https://pcgs.com/cert/40408861
link to Heritage auction --- https://coins.ha.com/itm/so-called-dollars/tokens-and-medals/1869-medal-pacific-railway-completion-silver-hk-12a-j-cm-39-r6-sp61-pcgs-pcgs-population-0-0-ngc-census-0-0-/p/1326-154001.s?ic4=ListView-ShortDescription-071515
Comments
Dark toning. (Bad truview?) The Heritage photo definitely looks silver.
Too bad you don't know anyone there who could check it, once the lots have been numbered and are accessible.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
My first thought is it was antiqued.
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Looking at the pictures, I do see the color variance.... but cannot really determine anything conclusively. Cheers, RickO
Where? I see "silver" on their site: https://www.pcgs.com/pop/detail/category/794?l=u-s-mint-medals-0&ccid=0&p=SP&sn=611201&pn=2&ps=100
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
When you click on the 611201 it (oddly) says "copper" under metal. Although the picture looks clearly silver. LOL
I could see it being silver! I doubt I would dispute the certification and I have seen silver surfaces look that way.
PCGS #
And yet, when you click on the PCGS number, at the top of the page that comes up it says:
"(1869) Medal J-CM-39 Silver Pacific Railroad (Special Strike)"
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
yup
Does it matter if you aren't going to melt it?
A cataloguer just viewed the lot and believes it to be silver. He also noted that it looks much closer to the image that shows the holder, too.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Odd.
Why? Truviews aren't always spot-on
I thought it odd that the slab said silver while the PCGS # listened it as copper. As rare as it is, does it matter that much?
well, sometimes it is even rarer in an off-metal. I'm not that familiar with that particular medal, although it is quite attractive.
HK-12 Bronze. 45mm. Julian CM-39. 496 struck.
HK-12a Silver. Proof. Julian CM-39. 126 struck.
HK-12b Gilt Bronze. Thick planchet 5.2mm.
From looking at the pics .. it don't look like silver.
The picture in the holder does
to me, all the pictures of the medal look like Bronze examples and I've owned some of those.
That gasket is horrid!
A menagerie of U.S. Mint medals
It kind of looks like an "antiqued" finish but I doubt that's what it is.
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It does have an antiqued look. Maybe Dcarr has some insight.
I knew it would happen.
Either way it is a beautiful medal...
K
Is there a difference in weight?
Exquisite engraving on the reverse.
designed and engraved by William Barber.
Looks awfully brown for silver.
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"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
(and a voice cried out from the desert)
"SOMEBODY SHOULD HAVE DONE A SPECIFIC GRAVITY TEST ON IT!!!!"
Any decent Jeweller will have an XRF machine to check the metal com[position.
eliminates all the guessing.
What insider would yell that?
I have a San Francisco Samuel Bridge silver school medal from 1895 which has become black over the years.
Samuel Bridge Medal awarded to Frank O'Donnell in 1895
Silver, 34 mm, 18.75 gm
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It does not look like 19th century US Mint bronzed copper. There isn’t enough brown color. And those medals were usually much more uniform in color; this example ranges from black in the devices to grayish-brown in the fields.
My guess is that in hand it is not so ambiguous.
A menagerie of U.S. Mint medals