TAKE A CLOSE LOOK THREE 1926 US SESQUICENTENNIAL MEDALS/ONE PRICE! RARE AWARD

Description: I hope you've taken a close look at ALL of the photos before reading this. This unusual auction is for THREE different Sesquicentennial medals....ONE PRICE FOR ALL 3 PHOTOGRAPHED! The first two photos are of the rare Sesquicentennial award medal that is looped as made. The reverse is the stylized eagle celebrating the country's 150th birthday. You may recognize the eagle from similar stylistic ones used on early 20th century coins such as the Bridgeport Commemorative half dollar that has some similariies. But this one is more that early modern melded with a more traditional looking eagle. The obverse is text about the award (and it looks like there is a light planchet crack at 11:00). The overall toning is really lovely. Next to it is a souvenir from the Sesqui featuring the Liberty Bell. Between the Liberty Bell and an eagle we've probably encompassed more than half of the coins and medals from the Centennial, Sesqui and Bicentennial. The third piece is a souvenir fob which is made of some base or type of pot metal. The award leads the parade and I believe if it rings a bell (no Liberty bell pun intended) it does look like the larger award medal; this one appears to be for an individual's service/contribution to the Sesqui as opposed to a traditional award medal for an outstanding item on display. As fairs and expos go, the 1926 Sesquicentennial wasn't big news; I don't believe the country embraced it as it fell in those years between World War I and the Big Depression. 150 years is a long time and certainly a major stop in the journey of America now at almost 250 years. I've always done an informal estimate of how a fair was perceived at the time (not for serious analyses of culture and important contributions), but rather by what's out there for collectors. That may seem silly on the surface but when you look at what scope of medals and souvenirs were sold that you and I can collect, you can get a good sense of expo size. It's an obvious correlation. The 1893 Columbian and 1904 Louisiana Purchase expositions have myriad items available for collectors and they were by far the largest, looking back at theexpositions from 1876 forward. St. Louis and Chicago gave usliterally thousands of items and The Centennial and Pan Am fairs were much smaller in various ways including number off souvenirs/medals. And on to 1915 San Francisco's PPIE, Century of Progress in 1933 Chicago, massive 1939-40 fair in New York and the Golden Gate Expo the same two years in San Francisco, the Sesqui pales in comparison with them all. The Sesqui pales compared to newer expos, too--'33 Chciago, '39 New York, '39 San Francisco and so on.I have been collecting all my life and selling for 45 years and I think I can be taken as accurate when I say that of all those named and later ones not listed, Philadelphia's 1926 Sesquicentennial Expo is pretty much below ALL of them in size, scope...and souvenirs/medals! I don't suppose this is earth-shattering analysis on my part but it's about the obvious correlation between people in attendance and things to buy--it's an obvious correlation and it's why the Sesqui is a second tier fair....and why so few medals and other items exist. This was ala contributing actor for me listing these three items together. The number of Sesqui collectors is smaller and fewer people would be incline to buy the fob I would suspect as the award with the handsome souvenir in between. So the only other thing to consider is the price. I opted for an opening bid of just $90 and a buy it now of a bargain at only $125. You can figure out my logic and compare it to your own. I believe a quite reasonable and below market range for each would be $65-$100 for the award medal, $50-$75 for the souvenir medal and hanger bar and just $10-$20 for the fob. That adds up to $125 to $195 which is a healthy range but it seems to me that buyers this summer have been relatively conservative in spending but when someone really wants a medal, for example, they don't mess around. You decide how this all "feels" and what you see as a "group value"--which I put at $125-$195....and opening here at just $90 with a BIN of only $125. Thanks for considering the medals and the 3-piece lot....and hanging in there listening to my thoughts and examination of what I see in pricing based on the market today. As is typically the case, once the summer is really over bidder activity should increase--it always does. But how the prices might fluctuate is a areal crap shoot...for the collector investing a few dollars and for the seller hoping to make a little. We NEVER want to overprice....or UNDER price!

Price: 90 USD

Location: Woodinville, Washington

End Time: 2024-09-17T06:35:24.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5 USD