A nice big chunk of silver showing Queen Victoria in her youth and in her old age, issued in celebration of her Diamond Jubilee (60th year as Queen) in 1897. Victoria continued as Queen until her death in 1901.

It was produced in bronze (56 mm ), silver (56 mm) and (21 mm ), and gold (26mm).

This one is silver and 56 mm.

The small silver seems to be enjoying a renewed bout of collectability and currently sells for around the £20 mark. Although not a `coin' I think anyone who has a Brit coin collection should get one of these while they still can at reasonable prices.

I have noticed a few of these on Vcoins lately and the thought did cross to purchase one. As you note they are official medals, and seemingly a bit undervalued considering the significance of their issue etc.

I love that medal I have the silver 56mm in the original box.

Ian, where can I find a definitive reference (hopefully online) concerning the information you just provided on these medals? The reason I ask is that I have a friend who has a 56mm that apparently has been silver plated (probably originally bronze) and we discovered the difference when we weighed both his medal and mine.

Thanks !!!

I definitely wouldn't mind owning one of those!

Sad to say, i'm not aware of there being any online resource / authority on this subject. Actually, trying to find any data concerning Brit commem medals / medallions is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Incredibe that this should be the case. I couldn't find any data online concerning the British Empire Exhibition medal I posted in a different thread.

BTW, I made a typo concerning the small silver diamond jubilee. It should have read 26 mm (like the gold one) and not 21mm.

I can however confirm that there was no official silver plated bronze medal created by the Royal Mint, and as such your friends medal has been plated at some stage after leaving the authority of the mint. The official bronze ones weighed in at 76 gms (if memory serves me well). I used to have one of them, an absolute stunner and completely blemish free, but I stupidly sold it on ebay a couple of years back. For next to nothing I may add. :-(

Thanks, Ian

I've been looking for an unblemished bronze, and the small silver. I doubt I could ever get the gold.

The gold one is indeed seldom seen. A friend of mine in Kentucky teased me with that fact last year when he managed to find and buy one. The small silver one should be fairly easily found though. I just checked VCoins where they had three all within the $25 -$30 mark....but all since sold. I'll dig out my one and scan it tomorrow. I can't remember its condition but I don't think that it's better than the VF band.

You should still be able to find a decent example of the bronze one for around $50 although I have seen a few dealers over here in the UK chancing things by asking as much as £75 of late.

Ian