Expert: Dmitry Livshits - 1/25/2012

Question
From Researching, I know that this design is well known to be a good luck token as I read one of your other answered questions. I have researched for about 2 months before I found this website and someone like you that can answer any and all questions. I can not find any others like this, the ones I DO find always have something different on them such as The boat is designed different, the waves are different, the letters start and end and different points or the letters are much larger or much smaller, or the sail on the boat is different, or the leg of the horse is hiked well farther over the dragons head than the others. I am a Gold Buyer, I buy alot of Gold - This came in & I bought it. It weighs 3.44dwt of Gold, Very soft - Very bendable - Very Yellow telling me in fact it is a high karat Gold. It holds well on the 10k Acid, 14k Acid & 18k Acid - Not tested on 22k.

I can't find any further information on it, It does have a hole drilled through it and was used as a necklace charm, and I am using it as a charm right now as well. I know this hurts the value, but if there is indeed OBVIOUSLY very FEW that were minted in GOLD - I have seen brass, silver and others - None in GOLD except one that had a value of £712,00 which would be near $1,000,000.

I would love to know the approximate year, rather it was hand made or minted, what country it is originated from, and most of all - It's Collectors Value (Gold value is right at $200 with today's spot price. If indeed I have something very unique & special - I would like to work as a team to take further steps into authenticating this & selling this for it's maximum worth and negotiate a deal to make us both happy.

2 High Quality Scans are attached, my scanner does pick up very good detail so dust even shows up and makes some things hard to see - Look Closely & please respond. Thank you & God Bless.

**I Have adjusted the color brightness and contrast to make certain details more visible.

I can be contacted at (1)
Thanks, -Jamie

Answer
Hi Jamie,
There were gold coins in denominations of 1/2, 1 and 5 ducats issued by Hungary in the 1600's that have this same theme. However, I can safely say that your item is a privately made medallion. The fact that it is solid gold leads me to believe it dates from the mid 1600's to late 1700's. It is modeled after the coin versions which were from the mid 1600's. The quality of the design also supports this age range. Later examples are either very crude or super high quality.
Value to a coin collector would be gold melt, due to the damage. Someone who specializes in this design may be willing to pay more, but it would be a relatively small premium. It's unfortunate though, I can only imagine the history behind it.
Thanks for the question! =)