How likely is this a George Soley piece? Or was there someone else striking Lord's Prayer Medals in the International Exhibition building in 1882?
I picked this up thinking it was a Soley piece since it follows the 1879 pieces which have a very similar prayer style to the 1876 pieces, but this has a different style and even text! This one ends with "deliver us from the evil one" while the others end with "deliver us from evil. Amen".
Here's a 13mm 1876 medalette posted by @NumisOxide. I don't think it's a Soley piece but good to keep track of here. These have been reported in gilt, brass, and copper. They come with a location for a hole, but not all specimens are holed. Benjamin Fauver had an unholed, brass specimen.
Here's SCD HK-69, Soley made a ton of so called dollars, I had no idea he made so many! I bought a couple but I kinda stopped and moved on to collect other tokens and medals by others who didn't make so many!
Here's one I bought years ago from Jeff Shevlin, he's in my coin club in Sacramento, I've had it for years but I finally got it graded. It's actually been posted in this thread years ago, I have a couple more I'll post another day!
Here's another SCD I got awhile back HK-53 and one of those 13mm prayer tokens, not mine and I don't even own one of these yet, but it's a nice one, Theodore Roosevelt. I think this was probably Soley's last prayer token as Roosevelt was President from 1901-1909 and I think Soley died in 1908, again I could be wrong.
I suspect there have been posts about the 1876 US Centennial Soley medals (SCDs) with the American Star reverse... but I didn't easily find them when looking on the forum tonight. I think they are rare, and Alber's book had a graph showing all the pairings.
It's my understanding that most of the medals are found with no number after the "No" for "number" but there are two known... a white metal with a "1" punched and a copper one with an "8" that is supposedly upside down. While I have never seen one signed by Soley, apparently some exist with a Soley signature below the date instead of the feather pen and twig (Oct 1879 Scott Stamp and Coin auction).
All of the medals with an American Star reverse seem to be commanding very strong prices ($4-5k) in 2026.
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
@Pioneer1 said:
I suspect there have been posts about the 1876 US Centennial Soley medals (SCDs) with the American Star reverse... but I didn't easily find them when looking on the forum tonight. I think they are rare, and Alber's book had a graph showing all the pairings.
Abler is incomplete. Shevlin and Hyder have more information, while still incomplete.
All of these are rare, as you note. There have been occasional listings sprinkled across sprinkled across auctions over the last century and a half. The "normal" star reverse (with No. below the date) is paired with 5 different obverses. That might be all of the pairings. I'm not at all confident that all of those pairings were produced in all possible compositions.
I don't know of anyone who has the full story on these pieces (including me). There's very little info to go around.
It's my understanding that most of the medals are found with no number after the "No" for "number" but there are two known... a white metal with a "1" punched and a copper one with an "8" that is supposedly upside down. While I have never seen one signed by Soley, apparently some exist with a Soley signature below the date instead of the feather pen and twig (Oct 1879 Scott Stamp and Coin auction).
Actually, there are at least two different copper ones with the Washington obverse that both have a punched "1"
The one with the "8" called upside-down because the lower loop of the 8 is somewhat smaller than the upper loop. It might actually be upside down. The difference is pretty subtle.
This is the one described in the 1879 catalog. Somewhat beat up, but it's not like there are many alternatives:
There is also a variety with this signed reverse and the Washington obverse. That one seems to be completely unlisted: Not in Baker, not in Musante, not described in any auction catalog at the NNP. The existence of two pairings with this signed reverse suggests that the other three pairings might also exist. Maybe it won't take another 150 years to find another.
And besides all of those, there is a die trial (or similar) of the reverse only, struck on a square planchet, that has nothing at all below the date. That one is probably unique, and it's been around for a while -- I found an auction appearance from 1981 and I didn't look earlier than that. It sold again at the last Stack's sale for $1200. That's probably a very reasonable price, although it's hard to say since there's nothing similar to compare it to.
All of the medals with an American Star reverse seem to be commanding very strong prices ($4-5k) in 2026.
...for unc examples. A VF / cleaned example sold at the recent Stack's sale for under $300. That seemed a very reasonable price to me for a piece as rare as these, especially compared to $4-5K for unc examples.
Comments
How likely is this a George Soley piece? Or was there someone else striking Lord's Prayer Medals in the International Exhibition building in 1882?
I picked this up thinking it was a Soley piece since it follows the 1879 pieces which have a very similar prayer style to the 1876 pieces, but this has a different style and even text! This one ends with "deliver us from the evil one" while the others end with "deliver us from evil. Amen".
Here's a 13mm 1876 medalette posted by @NumisOxide. I don't think it's a Soley piece but good to keep track of here. These have been reported in gilt, brass, and copper. They come with a location for a hole, but not all specimens are holed. Benjamin Fauver had an unholed, brass specimen.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1089897/new-addition-1876-liberty-bell-a-century-of-liberty-medalet-zoins-have-you-seen-this-one#latest
Here's another 13mm 1883 German-American Bicentennial piece I ran across. Saving the photos for posterity.
This should be listed as a So-Called Dollar in S&H Vol 2.
Photos courtesy of aclassactnumismaticsandmore.
I picked up this token up around a year ago, found it interesting and I think it's a George Soley but you never know, I've been wrong before!
Here's SCD HK-69, Soley made a ton of so called dollars, I had no idea he made so many! I bought a couple but I kinda stopped and moved on to collect other tokens and medals by others who didn't make so many!
Here's one I bought years ago from Jeff Shevlin, he's in my coin club in Sacramento, I've had it for years but I finally got it graded. It's actually been posted in this thread years ago, I have a couple more I'll post another day!
Here's another SCD I got awhile back HK-53 and one of those 13mm prayer tokens, not mine and I don't even own one of these yet, but it's a nice one, Theodore Roosevelt. I think this was probably Soley's last prayer token as Roosevelt was President from 1901-1909 and I think Soley died in 1908, again I could be wrong.
I suspect there have been posts about the 1876 US Centennial Soley medals (SCDs) with the American Star reverse... but I didn't easily find them when looking on the forum tonight. I think they are rare, and Alber's book had a graph showing all the pairings.
It's my understanding that most of the medals are found with no number after the "No" for "number" but there are two known... a white metal with a "1" punched and a copper one with an "8" that is supposedly upside down. While I have never seen one signed by Soley, apparently some exist with a Soley signature below the date instead of the feather pen and twig (Oct 1879 Scott Stamp and Coin auction).
All of the medals with an American Star reverse seem to be commanding very strong prices ($4-5k) in 2026.
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
Abler is incomplete. Shevlin and Hyder have more information, while still incomplete.
All of these are rare, as you note. There have been occasional listings sprinkled across sprinkled across auctions over the last century and a half. The "normal" star reverse (with No. below the date) is paired with 5 different obverses. That might be all of the pairings. I'm not at all confident that all of those pairings were produced in all possible compositions.
I don't know of anyone who has the full story on these pieces (including me). There's very little info to go around.
Actually, there are at least two different copper ones with the Washington obverse that both have a punched "1"
The one with the "8" called upside-down because the lower loop of the 8 is somewhat smaller than the upper loop. It might actually be upside down. The difference is pretty subtle.
This is the one described in the 1879 catalog. Somewhat beat up, but it's not like there are many alternatives:
There is also a variety with this signed reverse and the Washington obverse. That one seems to be completely unlisted: Not in Baker, not in Musante, not described in any auction catalog at the NNP. The existence of two pairings with this signed reverse suggests that the other three pairings might also exist. Maybe it won't take another 150 years to find another.
And besides all of those, there is a die trial (or similar) of the reverse only, struck on a square planchet, that has nothing at all below the date. That one is probably unique, and it's been around for a while -- I found an auction appearance from 1981 and I didn't look earlier than that. It sold again at the last Stack's sale for $1200. That's probably a very reasonable price, although it's hard to say since there's nothing similar to compare it to.
...for unc examples. A VF / cleaned example sold at the recent Stack's sale for under $300. That seemed a very reasonable price to me for a piece as rare as these, especially compared to $4-5K for unc examples.