The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 12, March 19, 2006, Article 12

MAINE ANTIQUE DIGEST REVIEWS LEVINE MEDAL SALE

An article by Samuel Pennington in the Maine Antique Digest
reviewed a recent sale of medals:

"In today's often overhyped world of collecting, where a
painted box may bring three-quarters of a million dollars,
million-dollar coins are not unheard of, and an iron escutcheon
sells for over $40,000, there seem to be few, if any, undervalued
fields. Collectible medals (sometimes called table medals), both
art and commemorative, may be one of those fields, as evidenced
by the December 10, 2005, floor and mail-bid auction held in
Baltimore, Maryland, by Presidential Coin & Antique Company of
Clifton, Virginia, whose president and chief is Joe Levine.

It was not always so. Until the end of the 19th century,
commemorative medals were preferred over coins. According to
a recent catalog issued by another company-Stack's, New York
City-dealers switched their emphasis to coins because there
were more of them and more chances for profit.

"Nineteenth-century American collectors considered medals to
be the true numismatic desideratum, relegating federal coins
to dry lists of types whose only distinctions were the superficial
ones of dates. This changed after 1893, when Augustus G. Heaton
published his Treatise on the Coinage of the United States Branch
Mints, generally referred to as 'Mint Marks.' By the time of the
First World War, and particularly in the period following the
dispersal of the W.W.C. Wilson collection in the mid 1920's,
American collectors of the 1930's and later focused on coins
and lost sight of the medals that had excited the generations
before them."

"Top price in the auction was $28,750 for an official inauguration
medal of Theodore Roosevelt by noted sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens
made by Tiffany. This same medal was bought by a collector for
$8722.03 at a MastroNet Internet auction in August 2005 and quickly
consigned to Presidential."

Second-highest price was $27,025 for a New Orleans hard times
token issued in white metal by Henderson & Gaines. These tokens
were issued by businesses during the years 1832-44 when U.S.
currency was problematic."

"Subscriptions are $10 for three catalogs with prices realized;
order from Presidential Coin & Antique Company, PO Box 277,
Clifton, VA 20124, or call (571) 321-2121."

To read the complete article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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