1922 Pope Pius XI papal annual medal gold fineness?

jonathanb

I'm wondering if anyone knows the gold fineness of the 1922 Papal annual medal? It's a nice medal; I'd rather not have it tested if I can get the fineness another way. This is apparently cataloged as Mazio 881, Rinaldi 116. 43.5 mm, 52.3 g.

STLNATS

The cat #s are correct and this is the first year annual medal for Pius XI, commemorating the 3rd centenary of the Institution for the Propagation of the Faith. As all early gold Vatican medals it is quite rare in gold, reasonably common in both silver and bronze. I quickly scanned my references (including DeLuca, some auction catalogs and the recent Modesti Annuale reference, etc) and none seem to give fineness for these and I don't recall ever seeing fineness information until well into the 2nd half of the 20th century. Hadn't really thought about this, but I would assume that its at least 90%,equivalent to the first coins of the Vatican. The indicated weight seems slightly high, but the tolerances of these were quite loose so that's not a big deal. Sorry can't be of more help, great medal that I wish I had.

lordmarcovan

Ooh, that's gorgeous.

amwldcoin

If you are able to go to a show which major bullion buyers attend you maybe able to have it tested with a new tool many have. It looks like a radar gun and can determine the exact content of the medal including what it is alloyed with. These are quire expensive so only the bigger buyers would prossibly have one.

Iosephus

As STLNATS noted, none of the major references mention the fineness of the gold medals produced during this period. I would venture to say that with only an estimated 25-30 of these struck in gold, the fineness is not even important to know, unless you are selling it for scrap, which would be an extreme travesty. If you really feel the need to have it tested, I sincerely hope that you have it performed in a non-destructive manner. These medals are extremely rare and it deserves to be preserved for future generations.

STLNATS

<< <i>As STLNATS noted, none of the major references mention the fineness of the gold medals produced during this period. I would venture to say that with only an estimated 25-30 of these struck in gold, the fineness is not even important to know, unless you are selling it for scrap, which would be an extreme travesty. If you really feel the need to have it tested, I sincerely hope that you have it performed in a non-destructive manner. These medals are extremely rare and it deserves to be preserved for future generations. >>




Yup, I second Joe's comments and would strongly urge you to avoid ANY sort of damaging analysis since it will only negatively impact the value which is really not tied to gold content at all. Some sort of noninvasive surface scan ought to give you a reasonable approximation of the content.

jonathanb

At least I didn't miss anything obvious in my Google trawling. :-)

Yeah, I keep hoping that someone around here starts going to shows with an XRF gun. It hasn't happened yet. I'd even pay $10 for the results. NGC will do it, for $75 on on top of grading fees. I'm NOT going to pay $75 for them to push a button.

(What I'd really like is for the price of the machines to come down to where I could buy one for myself. I have enough token/medals of questionable composition that I could justify paying $thousands, maybe even $5,000. I'd take a used one, as long as it works. I'm not paying $20,000+, though.)

I'll probably put this on eBay at some point. I've had mixed luck with selling gold medals in the past. It seems like everyone insists on knowing the fineness, even for pieces that I think should be worth more than scrap. :-(

Thanks!

coinkat

Consider doing a search on Baldwins and I suspect you will get an idea of the gold content and an estimate of its value