IgorS

There are Russian medals out there from the same period also made from cast iron - they are all cast, not struck.

Sorry, missed it from before. Here are some historical notes for those who read Russian, but I do not think there is an easy answer to why he picked the motto: http://iknigi.net/avtor-eremey-parnov/3623-maltiyskiy-zhezl-aleksandriyskaya-gemma-eremey-parnov/read/page-22.html

Alex beat me to it. I second that - Paul was the Grand Master of the Order of St John (The Knights Hospitaller, also known as the Hospitallers, Order of Hospitallers, Knights of Saint John and Order of Saint John)

How did you arrive at over 3000 EUR? Hammer price is 1380 EUR.

Yes, I deleted a few pictures prior to trying to upload these, still no luck. I do not want to delete any more

I could not attach the second image, even though the size is tiny. Pretty annoying stuff...

Sigi, I hope you do not mind if I post my coin here. Unrelated to copper coins, by related to me also getting a coin from James Elmen's (WORLD WIDE COINS OF CALIFORNIA) May auction.

There had to be a hidden reserve.

Well, this auction house is quite famous for selling foreign coins. They used to be called Superior Coin Galleries. The famous Goodman collection was sold there, as well as many others. From 2000 to 2006 they sold some amazing Russian coins.

You can check on their site. The always post right away.

Not me

I would like to read this article as well.

I assume by "auction it" you mean to try and buy it in their auction? Start at $200 and see where it will go from there. It might bring double or triple that.

Hello. There is a watermark of karamitsos.com on the note. Did you buy it there? I think it is a nice enough note. Probably worth a few hundred dollars.

I am pretty sure gxseries knows what he bought. We are just being tested.

243.9 and 243.10 look the same to me, but there must be some difference in the portrait details. Pictures in the book are too small to tell.

Congratulations! Diakov catalog lists sizes, not weights. But then again, smaller size, smaller weight. 243.1 is a 65 mm medal by Maria Fedorovna, the wife of Paul. 243.2 51mm by Leberecht 243.3 same but different initials - C.L.F, instead of a full signature as on the previous. 243.4 51mm by Alexeev, copy of Leberecht medal 243.5 51mm by Meisner - C.M.F. 243.6 51mm by Alexeev, copy of Meisner medal 243.7 44mm by Leberecht with full signature 243.8 44mm by Alexeev, copy of Meisner medal 243.9 39mm by Meisner 243.10 39mm by Meisner

Nice! RB is certainly better than BN. So your coin is ahead.

Let's see that Spitzbergen coin.

Do not be disappointed. This collection at one point belonged to Leonid Sodermann. I think it is a pretty good provenance. But it would be tough to get that name on the slab. So now your coins are conversation pieces as well.

BTW, whoever sold this lot in the April Heritage auction, did not do to well: Lot 25751 Peter I (the Great) silver Kopeck (1718) inverted L, Bitkin-type of 1273/98, Diakov-type of 678/720 (all at least R1), KM153, MS63 NGC. Fully brilliant, and lustrous, with the normal crude strike always seen with this type. A seldom offered type, especially so in this choice condition. Ex: Pfalz-Fein Collection with original collection tag showing Lot # 67. It sold in Heritage for $2000, but bought in Sincona for 3000 Swiss franks + commission.

There is an intro by Falz-Fein in The Sincona Collection - Part 1 catalog. Someone mistakenly (or not) decided to use the name...

I agree with alexbq2 - that is not natural color.

I am not sure where Haiti and Philippines came from, I was referring to US coins mostly. But be sure - world mints were not working that differently. The technology was simply taken from the leaders in the field, like Boulton in England, who invented modern minting equipment. As you remember Russia bought that equipment too And I still insist - Proof is not a condition of the coin struck with business strike dies, but a result of technological process I described in my prior post. Proof coin is a result of that technological process and cannot become non Proof. As far as NGC grading and giving some grades in MS of PF - it has nothing to do with Proof technology, but simply with subjective opinions of NGC experts, based on their experience. You and me are "old school" - what can NGC teach us?

Well, we all have opinions and that's what makes things interesting. I will state my understanding.There were multiple styles in making Proof coins around the world. In US, for example, there were a few different Proof coin styles - mirror (brilliant), satin, matte, sand blasting. But, what separates Proof coin from regular business strike is not "brushed special finish", but the entire process. There were carefully prepared dies polished to a mirror like finish, planchets were also specially prepared. Each coin was struck slowly and carefully, sometimes more than once to have full details of the design. As a result, these Proof coins have multiple Proof characteristics, not just the mirror like fields and edge and frosty reliefs of the design. One has to also look for squared-off rims and such. And just because the Proof coin displays the signs of wear or cleaning, it does not make it non Proof. For example, you can see NGC grading coins as PF-58 or lower.