bill

A number of events celebrating the end of the Spanish-American War were held around the country and may produced medals and badges of various sorts. One elusive piece for so-called dollar collectors is a 14 mm, gold-dollar sized medal, HK 643. I am particularly taken with the wonderful dove on the obverse with an olice branch in its beak. I finally acquired an example in its orginal badge. I actually acquired two pieces with different style crosses encasing the medal. The second went to a friend for his collection. The other cross was signed "J. H. Diehl, Philadelphia" and I suspect both were made by Diehl based on another Lord's Prayer piece I have in my collection.

Another beauty.

I'm assuming the middle piece is closest to the actual appearance in hand. Nice example of the importance of light in creating a photographic image.

I would use axial lighting and vary the angle of the light to get the desired result. Then I would lighten the image as needed.

The TAMS website can be found at: http://www.tokenandmedal.org/ No mintage figures and none listed in past journal articles that I have found after a quick look in the data I have online and that which I have not yet posted. (I'm web master for TAMS.)

I believe places like the British Museum made similar casts as study pieces for collectors, researchers, artists, etc. in the 1800s. I'd start with trying to track down the originals (assuming not all are in the Tassie collection) to determine a source for the casts.

Was he right? Not an easy answer. Elder felt Zerbe was creating collectibles to sell the US commemoratives in 1904 and 1905. He was having "gold" pieces struck with less gold than their implied value and then marketing them as a bargain to sell the commemorative gold dollars. The action was not that much different than the marketing of the gold charms. The Coins of the Golden West were a bit different since they carried their "denomination" in gold (one pennyweight, half penny weight, quarter penny weight). Zerbe implied that his "half" had 50 cents worth of gold, it didn't. Today, the Coins of the Golden West sell for a lot more than the gold charms of the period, so I would say that time was on Zerbe's side.

Photographing any subject raises questions of what is real. A photograph is certainly not real as it is a reproduction of an object in a blend of light, color, and shadow. Do you choose an image that shows what the coin looks like in hand? Do you choose and image that reveals all the defects present on the coin's surface? Do you find a happy medium with the understanding that no two people share the same vision and will likely see the same object somewhat differently from one another? I like to see all the small imperfections when shooting for my collection catalog as they can be used almost like finger prints if I ever needed to prove a coin was my own. If I want to display the coin, I want a picture that shows the struck details, color, luster, and diminishes the imperfections. Both are accurate photographs, but they tell eary different stories.

You have to make a distinction between fractional gold that was made in the 1850s and the "Gold Charms" made after the fractional gold was deemed illegal. The charms are available having been made in the time period and readily available as modern fantasies. The charms were also outlawed circa 1919 and the Secret Service raided the makers and siezed a number of dies. Zerbe published an interesting article in the Numismatist at the time praising the Secret Service for cracking down on the worthless charms. He devoted about half of his article to praising his own fractional gold pieces and the set he sold in 1915 (Coins of the Golden West) as being different from what the Secret Service went after and how they were truly collectible pieces unlike the worthless charms. Always the promoter.

I like that format.

Love the detail in the design.

Welcome. One link to storage supplies: http://www.lindner-usa.com/ Its not a recommendation for any specific method, just a place to start your thinking. The link is to the US site, but I believe Linder is a German company. A collection of common world coins would likely lend itself to three-ring binders. More valuable pieces would probably be better off with more formal stoarge methods. As you learn more about your interests, the value of your coins or the type of material you want to collect, preservation and conservation, etc., you will develop your own preferences. I keep my material in archival flips and storage boxes. That is not the most convient method of looking at the material, but I keep mine in storage and pull out selected pieces when I'm engaged in research and writing. If I was more inclined to showing my collection, then I would opt for the binder or album method where I could pull them out for viewing when desired. I do have display cases in my house for my art medals so they can be viewed by visitors and I encourage them to open the drawers to see what else is in the cases. These are art medals that are intended to be displayed and handled. So, there is no one answer to your question, but you should find many ideas looking around this site.

Both are nice. I know Ian prefers the Arthur, I'm nor sure myself. Both are nice examples of the electrotypes of the period. Great pieces.

We will have to plan a trip to Dayton and go through the archives. They should have it established now in a location that can be easily visited by the public.

I think they had a real problem with dies rusting quite rapidly. I believe it is more common than seeing pieces without evidence of rusting.

I'm guessing the signature is that of Cataldo Papaleo, a southern California sculpture associated with El Monte's Classic Bronze Corporation. He was active in that time period.

What I find interesting is that my album has the same filled slots and empty slots as Robert's. He has managed to find two additional medals to fill empty slots. I found an auction reference to another album that had the same filled and empty slots as our two albums. There must be a story here about the series.

Spectacular! I love associated ephemera such as this piece.

I really like this series. There is an elegance to the quality of the portraiture and the simplicty of design. The worn examples retain that same feel.

Great bird!

Just in case someone comes across this post and suspects I might think poorly of Farran Zerbe, I am currently secretary/treasurer of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society. Zerbe is credited as founder of the organization, although the honors should rightly be shared with others. I do collect broadly around the topics of Elder and Zerbe and Zerbe remains a favored topic. One of my recent purchases for which I paid quite dearly: The slug-type medal was struck in silver by Patrick Moise & Klinkner in San Francisco. Only 60 were struck and they already commanded a premium within a couple of years when they appeared at auction. My example was previously owned by Bill Weber. He paid $130 many years ago. The obverse die continues to be used for society medals.

The 1891 celebration of the U.S. Patent Office was a year late. Participants and visitors received a pure aluminum medal as a souvenir. A number of different committees and distinguished guests had distinctive ribbons to identfy their role. The 47.4mm medal is available without a hole. I suspect the holded examples were suspended from one or more of the distinctive ribbons, although I have never seen one. The medal is typically described as white metal since 1891 is a bit early for the regular use of aluminum, but the centennial records specifically describe the medal as pure aluminum: "A handsome medal of pure aluminum bearing the seal of the patent office and the inscription * ' Patent Centennial Celebration, Washington, April 10, 1891," was one of the souvenirs of the celebration."

Purchased on a whim for my California state seal collection. After more careful study, I love the piece and did a little more digging. Not only did the D.W. Laird Jewelry Co. out live D.W. Laird (he died in 1878 at the age of 51), it was respected for its high end work. Laird himself was a Mason. I was attracted to the piece in part because it came in its original box. Use this link http://farm6.staticf...cd5723cf0_o.jpg to look at it in more detail.

Regardless of its age, neat medal.

Good luck with the search. Life has a way of dealing us ups and downs, but it all comes out for the better in the long run. Hang in there and don't let the SOBs get you down.