Precious Medals

[coinman1794]

I recently did an appraisal that turned out to be very interesting. The owner pulled out a small 10x3x3 wooden shipping box from the 1800s. On top was an old mailing address for his great, great, grandfather, written in quill pen on a piece of aged white paper pasted to the top. Inside were two round cardboard boxes, like tiny hat boxes. Inside these velvet lined cardboard boxes were two 1876 Bronze Philadelphia Centennial medals, of the official design authorized by Congress and presented at the 1876 exposition. You simply do not find these in what appears to be original mint packaging.

 

 

 

 

[SkyMan]

Neat!

[JIM F.]

Thanks for posting. Please see PM.

 

[Flatwoods]

My kind of post! I like 'em. (thumbs u

[e1cnr]

what kind of value did you put on those?

[Deerefan8420]

Great medal Coinman! Thank you for posting! It's awesome to see a piece of history like this!

[FishyOne]

Very nice piece. Thanks for sharing.

[BillJones]

I really enjoy finding medals, especially 19th century medals in their original boxes. It really adds a lot IMO.

 

At the recent Baltimore show I found a 1961 Civil War Centennial medal in a pristine original box with the paper that when with it. It was not in the same league with what you found, but it was still a neat find.

 

[cpm9ball]

I, too, like the medals that are in the original presentation cases, and so few of them seem to exist. I have a couple dozen 19th century French and Belgian medals that have the cases which help to protect them from damage. I wish that my 1876 Philadelphia Exposition medal had one too because it is so large. At least now it is in an NGC slab.

 

Chris

[Eric Hazen]

Thanks for sharing :-)

[AstroTrain]

That's fantastic! Amazing they all survived together for so long

[johnny9434]

theres nothing wrong with that. did you purchase this item? just wondering is all

[coinman1794]

what kind of value did you put on those?

 

It's very hard to put a price on this lot. The medals themselves sell for $100- $200 each, in AU condition.

[coinman1794]

did you purchase this item? just wondering is all

 

The owner is not yet ready to part with them, now that he knows what they are.

[coinman1794]

Thanks for your comments, all. I knew this was not an everyday find, and I am happy to share the experience!

[Conder101]

Odd thing is those aren't the "original boxes" that those medals are usually found in. They usually come (when they have a box) in a square presentation case that slips inside a sleeve box. The sleeve box is often missing.

[coinman1794]

Are those, about which you speak, the original boxes?

[coinman1794]

Are there any records of the original packaging for these?

[SilverGigolo]

Thanks for the pictures. Now the Chinese counterfeits will be out in two weeks! Just kidding. I wonder just who these were distributed too? Prize winners? Dignitaries?

[slingshot-migration]

I've never seen original packaging that old. Maybe I live a sheltered coin life. Enjoyed seeing it. Thanks

[GBurger717-migration]

Really nice find!!!