Papal Medals Mystery

angelo43

I am looking for some help from the Numismatic community. I have acquired approximately 250 Papal medals from an eBay seller in upstate New York. He acquired them, purportedly, from the sister of a Roman Catholic Cardinal after his death. I am currently preparing the Papal medals for inclusion into an auction at either Heritage or Bowers. There seems to be some consensus that says that if I could prove the provenance of the medals that they would be more sellable.

The last of the medals was the Papal medal of 2016, year four, of Frances reign. There were three Cardinals that died after 2015. One of them was Bernard Frances Law who was an only child, therefore, he could not have a sister that would have sold these metals

The other Cardinals were William Wakefield Baum and William Henry Keeler. I have been able to find out that Cardinal Keeler has two sisters both living in Toronto. The seller was very forthcoming in telling me that the sister who sold these medals wanted only cash and would not allow him to keep any of the photographs that she showed him showing the Cardinal receiving some of these medals from the Pope. He also showed me pictures of a chalice the was made from the Almy company in Spain for the Cardinal. I could not find out anything from them after repeated calls, except the for Cardinals Baum and Keeler, they bought shirts from them. Cardinal Baum also died in 2015, he might have received the 2016 medal, but I doubt it.

It’s my guess that William Henry Keeler was the Papal medals collector however I have no proof of that, merely conjecture.

I have obviously looked through the Internet extensively, but I cannot find any reference to either of these two Cardinals being Papal medals collectors.

I am asking the community to help me to see if anyone out there knows for a fact which cardinal could’ve been the collector. I’m more than happy to take any PM but would love to start a conversation on the boards.

Thanks very much for all your help.

Abuelo

I met Cardinal Keeler and did not know he was a collector (if in fact he was). And yes, had siblings in Toronto. I personally would be surprised if such provenance added any value to the medals, but I do not collect them so I really do not know. Interesting.

291fifth

Without firm written provenance all you have is a story. If you watch "Antiques Roadshow" you know how much such stories add to the value of the items.

angelo43

Thanks very much, I don't know either if he owned the medals but I think if I could prove it then i could be of some interest to the buyers.

angelo43

Some of you have asked for pics. The more modern ones went to our hosts and I just received them

Abuelo

I like the Paul VI medals! Nice bunch! If you solve the mystery you will have to update us!

angelo43

Be glad to There are some very old ones that are still at NGC and will post when there done and pics are up. Some of the new ones are quite beautiful too, I like the old ones too. I have some coming soon and was pleasantly surprised by the grades.

Iosephus

I'll be interested to see what the older medals are. If you could prove that the cardinal owned the medals, that would certainly add some interest (and even more interesting to know would be if he actively collected or just sort of "accumulated").

291fifth

How are the "ANNO" dates assigned? Does the Anno always correspond with the calendar year or does it correspond with the date he was elected pope?

500Bay

The Anno numbers are of the year of the papal reign.

angelo43

here's some older ones

Abuelo

Nice!

AuldFartte

The Gregory VX has a great die break on the reverse. I love it!

Namvet69

Enjoyed the changes in fashion robes and headgear. Peace Roy

angelo43

Thank you, I have sent my collection to Heritage and there will be more pictures there in a dew weeks of about 250 Papal Medals that have come my way.