Silver 1848 Zachary Taylor & 1851 Millard Fillmore Peace Medals Help Please
CoinJegeren
Posts: 13 ✭
Years ago I found these medals. I have had them packed away for about 10 years. They are silver or silver plated. There is no information on silver plated reproductions anywhere for as long as I have owned them. I believe they might be solid silver. The holes in them are silver on the inside so if they are plated then they were plated after the holes were made. There was mention of a solid silver Zachary Taylor that sold for $55,000 a few years back. They are very big. Does anyone know anything about these? Silver plated bronze originals would fetch a pretty high price as well so any information would be greatly appreciated. They were together when I got them. They were not sold by a knowledgeable person or someone that faked them as I paid way less than a reproduction would sell for. I feel like if they were fake the person that faked them would have tried to cash in. Please let me know if you have any idea what these are or where I can get help. Thanks guys!
Comments
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End Systemic Elitism - It Takes All Of Us
The Stacks sales are for originals from the mid-1800s.
The examples from the OP are silver plated copper versions produced and sold in the mid- to late- 1900s as tourist souvenirs and/or as attempts to defraud. They have no value to speak of (maybe $10 as curiosities)
Okay I think I'll drill a fresh hole through the less valuable one. If it is silver all the way through then the other one will definitely be silver too and I can be certain.
Before you do anything....... think it over. Slow down.
Yeah, I got a little carried away. If I do anything I will just make one of the existing holes a little bigger. But I will wait for more responses first since Jonathanb didn't provide any reason for saying they are reproductions.
Just so you realize, @jonathanb knows his stuff and this is his niche. Therefore, his experience and opinion are likely quite accurate. As for me, my first impression was that these were too soft in detail to be originals and also that the restrikes, copies, reproductions and fakes far outnumber originals to the point that almost everything we see in this area is not an original.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
@BillJones
I feel he may have the answer you are looking for,
FWIW, I would NOT drill any new holes, clean or
otherwise until you know for certain these are
plated...
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
I have been called out here although this not one of my wheelhouses. But here goes ...
Given the amount of copper that is showing up on both pieces, neither one is solid silver. They are plated.
Second the lettering does not appear to be sharp. That indicates that these pieces are not 19th century strikes. I have 19th century examples of both of these medals in bronze. I will post them tomorrow.
Whatever they are I like them. Somebody said $10? I'm in!
No disrespect intended. I am new here and joined for the benefit of people like Jonathanb's knowledge. I was just thinking about drilling out the hole since he said it's only worth $10. Thanks guys!
If you have any doubts, DON'T scratch it. It is possible to test metal content non-destructively. The old fashioned way uses specific gravity, which isn't difficult but takes a bunch of annoying setup. There are electronic testers now. See if you can find a local dealer or jeweler who has one of those. This is one example; there are many other brands. Or send it to our host for authentication -- that will cost $100-200 per medal (I'm not sure the exact fees), but you'll have a definitive answer after you've spent the money.
For some more discussion, see https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/7420/. Compare the sharpness of the lettering on the silver-plated Cleveland medal about 3/4 of the way down the page, to the authentic bronze example that follows it.
Your Taylor medal wasn't even a peace medal. Whoever plated it didn't realize that it was a military medal, and an authentic one from the period wouldn't have been holed.
FWIW, there was an example of the Abraham Lincoln Indian Peace Medal on eBay last year that I looked at for a LONG time. It "couldn't possibly" have been real, but I couldn't see any obvious reason why it wasn't. I was going to bid a good chunk of money to satisfy my curiosity... and then the seller pulled the listing. I think that someone else may have gotten to him and made a side offer, and now I'll never know if it was real or not.
Here are my examples of these medals in bronze. These pieces were struck in the 19th century at the Philadelphia Mint from the original dies. Compare the sharpness of the lettering and the other features to the pieces in the OP.
Zachary Taylor Medal.
Millard Filmore Medal