Can anyone confirm/deny this assay medal/centenial medal/Washingtonia rumor?

Aegis3 · February 21, 2007 8:06AM

At Long Beach, I heard from a couple of people that the 1876 Assay medal that sold in Heritage's September 2006 sale is not bronzed copper but rather silver. Does anyone know more about this, and know more definitely which metal it is?

coindeuce · February 21, 2007 8:34AM

According to Julian, the 1876 Assay Commission medals were struck in silver, copper and aluminum. Hardly seems likely that Heritage catalogers would not have noticed the difference in weight between silver and copper or between aluminum and copper.

Aegis3 · February 21, 2007 8:51AM

Actually, the weight ranges of the copper and silver assay medals of that era have significant overlap.

coindeuce · February 21, 2007 8:58AM

Yet two medals of the same dimensions/design from the same year of production but different compositions would have discernibly different weights. Seems like a simple matter to find the specs. for weights of each composition, without having to visit the National Archives.

Aegis3 · February 21, 2007 10:15AM

<< <i>Yet two medals of the same dimensions/design from the same year of production but different compositions would have discernibly different weights. Seems like a simple matter to find the specs. for weights of each composition, without having to visit the National Archives.

>>

Well, unfortunately the thicknesses are not uniform. Specific gravity would work, or untoned color would work (in general for this last one). The specific medal I'm thinking of is toned. When I looked at it in lot viewing in September, I did think copper, but I could certainly have been influenced by the catalog description. I'm wondering if anyone actually knows, especially since there are people here interested in centenial medals.

coindeuce · February 21, 2007 1:32PM

I would disagree on your contention about thickness of these medals.
Since these were Mint struck in closed collar, the planchet thickness would likely have been uniform, or the strike details of each medal would have varied greatly based on the supposition that in all practicality, striking pressure was kept uniform. Do you have documentation of variations in thickness of these medals?

Can anyone confirm/deny this assay medal/centenial medal/Washingtonia rumor?

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