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Hi, this is my first visit and post to this forum.

 

I am just starting to go through the possessions of my late father and he has quite a collection of coins and medals etc but all are just jumbled together in various cloths for safe keeping with no identification.

 

I have decided to start with the Exonumia element of his collection (although I cannot guarantee that all the items I think belong in this category are)

 

I have been looking on various sites including this one and see some of the items he has but they seem to be made of different metals. Whilst I accept there will be no instant way to getting to the correct identification of each of these items I just wonder if there is a general approach that works best, and the best sites to use to work this through?

 

Rather than post all of the images up at once I thought I would just post one up initially as I really have got nowhere with it and ask how I would go about identifying what it is.item1001.jpg, item1002.jpg

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... quite a collection of coins and medals etc but all are just jumbled together in various cloths for safe keeping with no identification.

 

This won't be much help, but you do need the eyes-on, hands-on help of a numismatist. The Latin on the back commemorates the date December 17, 1753, I think, but the workmanship looks later, so it might be 19th century piece. It looks like it would be a medal, but you don't give the diameter.

 

Stuff like this is almost ubiquitous and not widely collected, I am afraid. As rare and unusual as it is, a medal that sold for $20 twenty years ago, sells for $20 today. About two years ago, I attributed a major medals collection for a local notable left to him by his locally notable forerunner and nothing had changed in value in many decades. Rare as they are, these are not marketable widely. That makes them nice to buy, of course.

 

My recommendation is to go to the ANA Website at www.money.org and on the left, touching Membership will bring a dropdown menu. Under that, the Dealer search will let you find the ANA member dealers near you. (You can search by the fraction of a zipcode, state, city, etc.) Most will want to look at them if you bring them in. Most will have no idea and no interest. Medals and exonumia are a special area. Hovever, you can search the lists by Dealer Specialty.

 

Also, search for a Member Club near you. The people there will be more than helpful.

 

Largely, however, understand that you just inherited a photograph album.

 

All of that aside, artifacts like these are historical evidences and bring the past back to life.

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Welcome Kevin, I can certainly help you with this one;

 

This medal commemorates the Irish surplus revenue dispute of 1753. In 1753 a bill having been prepared for the application of some of the surplus of the revenue towards the discharge of the National Debt, all mention of the King's consent was omitted in the preamble. The English Ministry returned the bill with the preamble altered, and the King's consent inserted. In that form it was brought before the Irish House of Commons, and rejected by a majority of 124 to 117. By this act the Speaker, representing the Parliament, is vindicating the liberty of Ireland, and is supported by Law and Industry.

The figures with animal heads in the exergue are meant to disparage the character of those who were supposed to have fomented these disturbances for the sake of gold.

 

Obv. The Irish Parliament issuing from their house headed by the Speaker, who carries a bag, inscribed, and places a cap of Liberty on the head of Hibernia, attended by Industry with a distaff and by Law with a scroll, inscribed. Above is Fame with a trumpet, the flag of which is marked and with an inscribed scroll. Exergue: A vulture and a wolf, with human hands and bodies, scrambling for gold.

 

Inscribed on bag carried by the Speaker VINDICATA = Vindicated.

Inscribed on scroll carried by Law LEGES. = Law,

Inscribed on banner below trumpet carried by Fame CXXIV =124

Inscribed on scroll carried by Fame ERGO TVA JVRA MANEBVNT. = Therefore your rights shall remain.

VTCVNQVE FERENT EA FACTA MINORES = However posterity may consider these acts, love of country prevails.

 

Rev. SACRVM SENATORIBVS CXXIV QVI TENACES PROPOSITI FORTITER AC PRVDENTER JVRA PATRIAE RITE VINDICARVNT XVII DIE DECEMBRIS AERAE CHRISTIANAE MDCCLIII QVOCIRCA VIVITE FORTES(Inscription Translation: Sacred to the 124 senators who, firm to their purpose, boldly and wisely have duly vindicated the rights of their country, 17 December 1753 of the Christian era; wherefore long live ye brave men)

QVIQVE SVI MEMORES ALIOS FECERE MERENDO = Who by deserving well have made others cherish their memory.(Virgil, ‘Aeneid’, vi. 664)

Here is one that just sold on eBay

 

I am more than happy to try & identify any that you post, size is a help.

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Thank you for the response and the extra information that is a great help.

 

I did not post all of them up as I was not sure of etiquette on the forum and did not want to take anyone for granted. If it is OK to post them up here I will do so (but not all in one go, I will post up what I know about them and in most cases question why it seems to be a different material to what I believe the originals are.

 

For confirmation on the previous item, its diameter is 43mm.

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OK, so here is an example about my question regarding different materials, and whether this was common in this field or if it means they were made at a different time.

 

I can find the story about the medal from the other thread on this site.

 

My question is that on the other thread the medal quite clearly looks bronze in colour and whilst the pictures below do not show it clearly, the version I have is most definitely a silver colour - I am not sure what it is made of presumably pewter? or something like that.

 

So does this mean anything or were items like this quite often struck in different metals and then sold at different prices at the time?

item2003.jpgitem2004.jpg

 

item is 39mm

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OK, so here is an example about my question regarding different materials, and whether this was common in this field or if it means they were made at a different time.

 

 

My question is that on the other thread the medal quite clearly looks bronze in colour and whilst the pictures below do not show it clearly, the version I have is most definitely a silver colour - I am not sure what it is made of presumably pewter? or something like that.

 

So does this mean anything or were items like this quite often struck in different metals and then sold at different prices at the time

 

It was very common to produce medals in more than one metal(sometimes in more than one size too) so you could offer them for sale at a range of prices. Rarely you can find a medal struck in an unlisted metal or size, or very rarely a completely unlisted medal. The Charlotte, BHM#937, was struck in AE(bronze) & WM.(white metal, as yours is.) it was engraved by Hancock for Kempson & Son.

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It was very common to produce medals in more than one metal(sometimes in more than one size too) so you could offer them for sale at a range of prices. Rarely you can find a medal struck in an unlisted metal or size, or very rarely a completely unlisted medal. The Charlotte, BHM#937, was struck in AE(bronze) & WM.(white metal, as yours is.) it was engraved by Hancock for Kempson & Son.

 

OK thanks, things are slowly (very slowly in fact) becoming clearer.

 

After a few hours work I have identified a few others covering:

 

  • the abolition of slavery in Great Britain 1834
  • George III funeral at Windsor
  • George III Jubilee

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Ok so here is my last post for the day. I have not been able to get anywhere with this, I am struggling to even find a good language translation, I started of thinking it must be Swedish by the inscription on the front, but even using that I cannot get a sensible translation.

 

So going with just guesses on what I read, it looks like it is something to do with King Charles XIII of Sweden.

 

But what it celebrates/commemorates I have not found out yet, any offers?

 

It is White Metal again and is 43mm

item6011.jpg item6012.jpg

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Completion Gotha Canal Medal, issued by the Gotha Canal Company Directors LINK

 

Medal presented to Thomas Telford in 1829?(the canal was not officially opened till 1832) for his assistance in the construction of the canal, having a head of Charles XIII. on the obverse, bore on the reverse a special inscription:—"Till Tho. Telford, Com. af VV. C. Led. af W. A. for Werksamt Bitrade till Hafvens Forening. Obviously your WM? copy does not have Telford on it. The medal is available in silver.

 

The link gave the weight of the silver 39.06.

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Rev. Translation(the original medal presented to Thomas Telford, for his assistance on the canal, had his name on it so the inscription makes sense)

for werksamt(work together) bitrade(counsel/advice) till(to) hafvens(you have) forening(Assistance)

Gifven(given?) af(by) Gotha canal bolag(company)

 

So; For working together, counselling & assistance, given by the Gotha Canal Company?

 

The Obv. is Charles XIII King of Sweden, Goths & Wends.

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By the way, that first medal, the Irish Surplus Revenue piece so nicely identified by Constantius, shows verdigris, also known as "coin rot."

 

On the reverse at the 7 o'clock position, is an area of greenish. That is a chemical reaction with the copper. If not stopped, it will eat away at the medal, entirely -- and has already started to do so. Moreover, it can spread to other copper coins.

 

If you remove the green, you will see underneath that the metal is corroded.

 

Removing the verdigris and preventing it from coming back takes some work.

 

Basically, you remove the green with a wooden pick; and a rose thorn is the best recommendation for that. (A mere toothpick might not be hard enough and might have chemicals within it.) Then, you have to stop the chemical action; some recommend soaking the coin in distilled water; others vinegar; etc. Then dry it under a lamp until it is completely 100% drier than you think is really dry. This has been discussed on Coin People here.

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Thanks again Constantius for taking the time to enlighten me, and Michael thanks for the advice re: the Verdigris I will read up on cleaning it as I do not want to do anything until I am sure about what I am going to do and can be certain that I will not do more harm than good. I suspect that these medals have not even seen the light of day for the last 30 years or so and hope that a few more days will not matter.

 

I have carried on working through the medals and list them here only in case they are of interest for anyone to see, I am assuming again that I do not have any great rarities here, but just want to bring out the best of my fathers collection. The huge pile of coins and stamps are far more daunting especially as he did tell me there were some rare ones in there.

 

So in addition to those listed or shown above I have also got

 

  • Prince Albert 1851 - Great Exhibition of the industry of all nations - London
  • The Fourth Bridge opening 1890
  • Duke of Wellington death 1852
  • Duke of Wellington death 1852 (different design)
  • Dargan Great Industrial Exhibition 1853

 

and that now just leaves two. One seems to be an award medal from Ecole Municipale de Nice to someone called Jean Baptiste Cristini in 1875.

 

The other has no date on it and I could use a bit more help here, and just states Arts and Commerce promoted and it has the name of G.Mills under the head on the front. It is 41mm wide and weighs 38g, it is 4mm thick at the edge

item7013.jpg item7014.jpg

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The Society for Promoting Arts and Commerce issued award medals. Over the years many engravers were used and there were also different designs.

 

Yours is the Vulcan Medal; In 1814 Mills produced this for the society as a second medal for the department of mechanics, gold & silver Vulcan were given for 'first time improvements' in mechanics in 1820.

 

Ceres, Minerva, Isis & Prince Albert were shown on some of the others. Flaxman, Pingo & Wyon were some of the other engravers used.

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