A Unique Place in History

by Dave Provost

Stop and think for a moment. How many of your possessions can truly be considered unique? Your car certainly isn’t (no matter what you think of its many “unique” character flaws). Likely. neither is your home, your television, your watch, your favorite suit or even your wedding ring.

Nearly everything we buy is mass produced such that there are literally thousands (if not millions) of them scattered about the country. But numismatics gives collectors an opportunity to possess something that is truly unique (or very nearly so)!

I was reminded of this recently when I received a Bowers and Merena auction catalog for the collections of Russell J. Logan and Gilbert G. Steinberg. Session six of the sale featured a gold example of a medal commemorating the 1892-93 Columbian Exposition that was held in Chicago, IL. (See Figure 1.) While the piece is known in two different sizes (37mm and 58mm) and in both silver and white metal, no examples in gold were known to the numismatic community at large until this example was catalogued. (Side note: I always chuckle when I read an auction catalog listing that describes an item as “previously unknown.” After all, it seems to me that the owner of the piece likely knew about it as did the company/mint that produced it!)

The medal was designed by Robert Lovett and was produced by Boldeweck & Company. It is a very detailed design that features, among other things, the signing of the Declaration of Independence on the obverse and the discovery of America and the landing of the Pilgrims on the reverse. It is a truly beautiful piece, made all the more so by its brilliant gold surfaces.

While I’m sure that this gold medal will go for a sum that puts it out of reach for most collectors, some lucky and affluent collector is going to possess an item that is truly unique. And when he or she shows it to another collector, they will both know that they are sharing a very special experience.

But it doesn’t necessarily take thousands of dollars to purchase a unique or very low mintage numismatic item. Many tokens that are considered to be unique (or very nearly so) can often be bought for “bargain” prices of less than $100. It’s likely that the majority of adult collectors could put together such an amount if they were eager to own such a piece.

In my collection, I have a number of medals with mintages of 100 or less. Some have mintages of ten or less. In contrast, the rarest coin that I own has 4,256 “cousins” distributed amongst the collections of other enthusiasts and the stock boxes of our hobby’s dealers.

Are the medals more visually impressive than the coin? Not necessarily, but knowing that I could go to any larger coin show and find several examples of the coin available for purchase while never coming across a few of the medals I own definitely gives the medals a step up on the “Wow!” scale.

I may pass my car 20 times a day on the road and watch my favorite comedy shows on the same TV as a million others, but, through numismatics, I get to personally appreciate true rarity in a mass-produced world. Kind of cool!

Until next month, Happy Collecting!

ã Copyright Raleigh Coin Club   -  2002

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