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FSHO: Three rare US Assay Commission Medals in NGC slabs. From the Eric P. Newman Collection

PutTogetherPutTogether Posts: 2,141 ✭✭✭
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I've done my best to list pertinent information and images below. I bought these at auction from Heritage back when they were running the "Eric P Newman Collection" sales several years ago. All are in NGC's special holder designating them as part of the Newman Collection. Each medal below will have a link to an album of pictures that will show the medal's obverse, reverse, a picture of the entire slab, and a snippet from the appropriate page of the Julian book describing the medal in question. My photos are not fantastic. (I realize everyone says their stuff looks better in person, but it really is true in this case). I've really enjoyed owning these, and hope that I can find them all a good home.

The three medals for sale are:

All three are beautiful and historically important. They also come from VERY low mintages. These were given to people who participated in the annual Assay at the mint, and were not for sale to the general public.

The 1890 and the 1922 are in exceptionally high relief, and size of the 1922 is especially cool.

Each of the three are listed below with an embedded image, a brief description, and a link to more photos. I've also listed their lot numbers from the Heritage auction if you want to look those up.

Note that each album of photos for a medal will also include a photo of that medal’s entry in the Julian book.

First is the 187 (JK-AC-10 AR) in silver, and is the variety WITHOUT the Director of the Mint's name. -- $1000 Shipped

Engraved by William Barber, the obverse shows Archimedes framed in a doorway. Archimedes and his bathtub are there to symbolize his discovery of the specific gravity test for precious metals. (Remember, this IS going to members of the Assay Commission). It's a neat item, especially in silver. It has toned to a crusty gray. In the sunlight, you can see luster trying to get out from behind the toning. The reverse has a single line across it where no toning occurred. It is NOT a scratch. Graded by NGC as MS62. Apparently it is thought that 25-43 of these were minted.

This link to NGC says that only 3 of these have been graded there.

If you'd like to look up its past auction result, see lot# 98606 at Auction # 1235 at Heritage Auctions.

More pics of the 1871: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0kGWUKfSGy2zTi

Second is the 1890 (JK-AC-33 CU) Graded MS65 BN. -- $800 Shipped

It's a very nice medal, with an assumed mintage of 26 pieces (If I'm reading the book correctly). It is listed as a Rarity-5, and The Julian book says only 26 cases were ordered for this issue. Assay Commission medals were given as a courtesy to the people who traveled to take part in the US Mint's annual assay. Each attendee was given a medal as gift for being part of it. The relief on this one is AMAZING. It's got a version of President Harrison on the obverse (believe it's the same obverse taken from his presidential medal) and the reverse shows an allegorical image of the assay taking place. It's a cool piece. Charles Barber was the engraver for the obverse, George Morgan was engraver for the reverse. These medals are a neat way to get a very low mintage item from the US mint in exceptionally high quality. I DO wish my pictures were better so I could show off the smoothness of the brown and the incredibly high relief. The Julian book has an interesting entry guessing how many of these were minted. I've included a pic of the page in the album below.

This link to NGC indicates that they have graded a total of 7 of them.

If you want to look up its past auction results, it was lot# 98607 in Auction# 1235 at Heritage.

More pics of the 1890: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0k5ko8dMwjrL6

Third is the massive-sized 1922 JK-AC-667 AE in bronze. Graded MS64. Engraved by George Morgan. -- $1100 Shipped

I've included an extra photo in the album of pics for this one in order to show the scale of the medal and the slab. It is LARGE. This is one is probably my favorite due to the size and amazingly high relief on both sides of the metal. The eagle and its branches and scale on the reverse are my favorite part. Just beautiful.

This link to NGC shows that only 8 have been graded there.

If you want to look up its last result, it was lot# 9861 at auction# 1235 at Heritage.

More pics of the 1922: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0k5mPNHwc16ks

All of these remain in their special NGC slabs, showing that they hail from the Eric P Newman Collections, and all of the slabs are in very good condition. (The Heritage Auction labels remain on the reverse of all three slabs)

I'm open reasonable offers, and love the idea of selling all three to single person. I can take Zelle, Cashapp, Bitcoin, and maybe even a bullion trade.

I will ship to you using USPS Priority mail - I've always had great luck with them, and will pack your medal very carefully. I've enjoyed owning these for the last several years. Contact me with any questions and I’ll do my best to answer. (and please forgive any typos or grammatical errors - It's late. :) )

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