Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 11/26/2009

Question
QUESTION: Dmitry:

I have received among many items in an Estate what appears to be a 2" diameter silver coin or commemorative medal/medallion dated MDCCXLV (1745)and apparently referencing--if my Latin is ANY good--Frederick the Great, perhaps some victory in one of the Silesian Wars. (That's a total guess.) My local coin shop guy was able to confirm the "coin" is silver and weighs 2 oz., but--beyond that--he knoweth not.

I am attaching hereto some scans of the coin, rather than try to describe it. I will send the obverse with this email and then the reverse separately.

I was hoping you might be able to give me some idea what this piece IS? Was it a modern replica of some past coin? Is it actually from 1745? Is it from some modern commemorative set?

Any help or guidance you could give me would be GREATLY appreciated.

THANKS SO MUCH!

Jim

ANSWER: Hi Jim,
You have a pretty rare commemorative medal, which is indeed from 1745. This is for the "Second Proclamation of Augustus III as Vicarius (Vicar) of the Holy Roman Empire". An interesting point: the motto "DECUS ET PRAESIDIUM" was also that of the 175th infantry regimen of the US army.
An example of this medal in excellent condition recently sold at a Christie's auction for just over $1,000.
Unfortunately your medal has some issues... it appears to have been cleaned with a polishing cloth and has extensive rim damage. As such, I would estimate it between $400 and $600 at auction.
Please don't forget to rate this answer.
Thanks for the question! =)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dmitry:

I really appreciate the thoughtful and prompt reply. Can you suggest some reference materials or a website which would authoritatively I.D. this commemorative medal or which would cite comparative sales? Again, thanks so much for your time.

Jim

Answer
There is a smaller version of this medal described by Hutten-Czapski in the book "Catalogue de la collection des medailles et monnaies Polonaises". This came out in 1957 and was updated in 1995. Unfortunately it's a pricey publication and I'm not aware of any free resources online. Google books has a preview of it, but may not include the necessary pages.
This medal is quite rare and as a result it does not appear on public auction results such as Heritage auction archives or CoinArchives.com. You would need a membership with an exclusive auction records site, such as appraisers use. Again, this is a pricey option.
The best thing to do is to send the medal in to a grading company such as NGC, who can certify it as genuine. They will not grade it however, due to the cleaning and rim dings.
Thanks again. =)