OFFICIALLY AWARDED REPLICA NOBEL PRIZE MEDAL

By way of follow-up to your on-line editorial in November last year regarding the sale of Sir Robert Robinson's medals, I thought you might be interested to know that the Nobel Prize medal in that group is not a copy in the sense of being counterfeit. Rather, it is an officially awarded replica given to Sir Robert by the Nobel Foundation along with his 23 karat gold one.

According to the Nobel Foundation, each Nobel Laureate is permitted to request up to three replicas for personal use or donation to universities or museums. These cannot be purchased by the public or institutions and are only offered to the Laureate him or herself. The replicas are identical in every way to the solid gold issue, being struck in gilt bronze from the same dies, made by the same Swedish Mint by the same craftsmen. The Robinson Nobel replica is stamped on the reverse with his name and date of award in the same font as the 23 karat gold medal.

I was the purchaser of this group and have confirmed this information with the Nobel Foundation. There is another such replica in the holdings of Magdalen College, Oxford which was presented many years ago to the College by Sir Robert. I have yet to determine the whereabouts of his 23 karat gold medal, so the search is not yet over!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
SIR ROBERT ROBINSON'S MEDALS OFFERED (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n48a24.html)

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