New COIN WORLD New Orleans Mint Medal major variety discovered!!!

291fifth · April 30, 2007 4:14AM

Back in the 1960's, COIN WORLD issued a set of eight medals featuring the various US Mints. Last week I won a set of the eight bronze medals on eBay for the princely sum of $8 (probably an all-time low for the complete set!) I actually only needed the Denver, San Francisco and Dalonega medals, but the set went so cheap I couldn't pass it up. The photo in the auction had only shown the obverse (mint) side of the medals.

I took out my existing medals to compare them, condition-wise, with the new arrivals. When I got to the New Orleans medal I did a double take when I set the medals down next to each other and realized that the new arrival had the 1962 dated reverse, something that was supposed to have been used only on the Charlotte issue. I have never heard of this variety before, and the 1985 COIN WORLD summary of these medals makes no mention of it.

Has anyone else got one of these New Orleans medals with the 1962 dated reverse?

flaminio · April 30, 2007 4:17AM

Eight medals? So they included the Manila Mint in that set?

'Course, now there's a ninth mint...

Sorry I couldn't help with your question, but do you have pics of the set?

291fifth · April 30, 2007 4:26AM

The eBay lot # was 130102566777. The photo is still there.

The set includes two different Philadelphia mint medals (1962 & 1969) and didn't include the Manila branch mint.
Why Manila wasn't included isn't known and probably never will be since forty years have passed and Coin World didn't keep good records regarding its medal issues.

CaptHenway · April 30, 2007 4:41AM

Hey, I worked there for five years back in the 1970s, and even owned a set of these at one time, and I never knew that the dates meant anything........
TD

291fifth · April 30, 2007 4:51AM

Supposedly, the only medal in the series that was dated (1962) on the Coin World logo side was the Charlotte medal.

CaptHenway · April 30, 2007 5:53AM

I talked to another former employee that I knew had a set, and he didn't know that they came with different dates either.
He will check his set tonight and let me know what they have.
TD

291fifth · April 30, 2007 9:36AM

I suspect this resulted from a reorder where Medallic Art inadvertently used the wrong reverse die. I believe that on the issues from New Orleans on, reorders were done to fit demand. The patina on the medal with the 1962 date is somewhat darker than on the undated version. This probably indicates a different production run. Since these medals were shipped in small, individual boxes, it's not surprising that the error wasn't caught.

So far as I am aware, my report is the first regarding this variety...40+ years after they were struck!

CaptHenway · May 5, 2007 6:04AM

My friend finally got around to checking his set of silver medals, and only the Charlotte has a date, 1962.
TD

Coinosaurus · May 5, 2007 6:17AM

Are the medals any good?

The cool stuff about this sort of material is that it is practically free when you find it.

Type2 · May 5, 2007 6:23AM

linky

291fifth · May 5, 2007 7:55AM

I have written to a Coin World editor I know collects the series. No response yet. I wonder if he has ever heard of this variety or owns one himself?

New COIN WORLD New Orleans Mint Medal major variety discovered!!!

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