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French Art Deco Silver Plaque, Circa 1930

French Art Deco Silver Plaque, Circa 1930
Photo Credit: LeBonheurDuJour

French Art Deco Silver Plaque, Circa 1930

Asking Price: $74.81 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This marvelous 1930s French Art Deco silver plaque by Édouard Fraisse depicts the personification of industry pointing a youth towards the future.

-This French art medal is rectangular in form and measures 55 mm (2.17 inches) wide by 49 mm (1.93 inches) tall by 2 mm (0.08 inches) thick.  This is quite large for an antique medal, which boosts its desirability.

-This beautiful Art Deco silver plaque was originally awarded in 1930 to a French engineering graduate from the city of Angers named “Roger Maillard”.

-The obverse of the plaque has the inscription “Ecole Nationale D’Arts et Métiers – D’Angers 1930”, which translates as “National School of Arts and Crafts – Angers 1930”.

-The mid-sized French city of Angers is located on the Maine River about 50 miles upstream from France’s western Atlantic coast.  In the early 20th century, Angers was known for its production of distilled liqueurs (primarily Cointreau), sparkling wines, and other agricultural products, along with slate roofing tiles and steel cables and wires.

-The reverse of the medal is engraved with the phrase “Ministère de L’Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts – Enseignement Technique”, which reads in English as “Ministry of Education and Fine Arts – Technical Education”.

-This fine Art Deco silver plaque comes in its original, felt-lined fitted box.  This is fairly unusual as most of these cases have been lost over time.  So it is always a joy to find an antique medal still paired with its original box!

-This vintage French medal is hallmarked “ARGENT” (silver) on its rim, indicating that it is made from solid silver.

-Although the seller does not disclose the plaque’s weight, we can estimate it from the dimensions given.  First we derive the medal’s volume: 5.5 cm x 4.9 cm x 0.2 cm = 5.39 cm3.  Then we multiply this value by the density of a typical silver alloy (we’ll use 90% coin silver at 10.31 g/cm3).  This gives us an inferred weight of 5.39 cm3 x 10.31 g/cm3 = 55.6 grams or 1.78 troy ounces, which is exceptionally heavy for an art medal.

-Vintage art medals are one of the few segments of the antiques market where you can still find legitimate investment grade pieces for less than $100.  This 1930s French Art Deco silver plaque is a great example of this phenomenon at only $75.  With such a low price, you should not hesitate to add it to your collection.

 

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Cons:

-The value of antique art medals varies according to subject matter.  The theme of industry found in this medal runs in the middle of the pack in terms of desirability, below subjects such as planes and cars.  But this is really nitpicking.

 

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16th Century Mexican 4 Reales Silver Cob Coin

16th Century Mexican 4 Reales Silver Cob Coin
Photo Credit: EMPEROR’S TREASURE TROVE

16th Century Mexican 4 Reales Silver Cob Coin

Asking Price: $499.99 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This late 16th century silver 4 reales cob coin was struck during the reign of Felipe II of Spain between 1556 and 1598 in Mexico City.

-This coin has a weight of 13.69 grams (0.4401 troy ounces) and is minted from 93.05% fine silver.

-Even though this Mexican 4 reales silver coin was struck in the late 16th century, it almost certainly would have circulated during the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean between about 1640 and 1725.  This is because Spanish colonial coinage often remained in circulation for 100 to 200 years after striking during this period.

-This Spanish colonial cob coin is graded XF-40 by NGC (Numismatic Guaranty Corporation).  NGC is a well-respected third-party certification service that guarantees both the grade and the authenticity of the piece.

-The Spanish struck 5 different silver denominations throughout their realms: the 1/2 real, 1 real, 2 reales, 4 reales and 8 reales coins.  The largest of these, the 8 reales, was also known as the infamous “piece-of-eight”.  It was the predecessor coin to the American silver dollar and was widely coveted throughout the New World by both pirates and honest shopkeepers alike.

-Pirates were surprisingly progressive and egalitarian for their time.  The crew elected its own captain (and could un-elect him as well).  Any captured booty was divided fairly among the crew, with the captain generally receiving only 2 to 6 times the share of the average crewman.  They even enjoyed a primitive form of disability insurance, where any pirate crew member injured in action would receive a special payout to compensate him for the loss of a hand, foot or an eye.

-This Mexican 4 reales is a cob coin, which was made by cutting a blank off the end of a roughly-formed silver bar.  The Spanish word for end is “cabo”, hence the English adoption of the term “cob” in reference to this coinage.  The ill-formed lump was then hand-struck between two dies, resulting in a fairly crude coin where major design elements were frequently off the flan.

-As mentioned previously, cob coins are usually very poorly struck.  In addition, it is quite common for them to suffer damage from saltwater immersion (shipwreck coins), cleaning or modification into jewelry.  However, this Mexican 4 reales example is effectively pristine, with a well-formed planchet, excellent centering and good striking.

-Considering the enduring romance of the pirate age (as evidenced by the popularity of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean), cob pieces from the 16th and 17th century are in perennially high demand.  Therefore, I find the $500 asking price for this Mexican silver 4 reales cob coin to be quite fair, especially in light of its excellent state of preservation.  You can verify this by checking recent auction results for similar pieces here.

 

Cons:

-For those purists out there, this silver 4 reales isn’t one of those legendary “piece-of-eight” coins.  Instead, it is a “four-bit” coin – exactly half of a piece-of-eight.  But I hardly consider this a con.

 

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NGC & PCGS Certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head Gold Coins

NGC & PCGS Certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head Gold Coins
Photo Credit: Liberty Coin

NGC & PCGS Certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head Gold Coins

Buy It Now Price: $623.54 each (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-Pre-1933 NGC and PCGS certified U.S. gold coins – like these random date $2.50 quarter eagle MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head pieces – represent exceptional investment value in the hard asset space.

-Each coin measures 18 mm (0.71 inches) in diameter and weighs 4.18 grams (0.1344 troy ounces), giving a net gold content of 3.76 grams (0.1209 troy ounces).

-Buying an NGC or PCGS certified MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head piece means you are guaranteed to get a genuine, problem-free and stunningly gorgeous coin.  In addition, enough of these coins have survived to drive institutional interest and liquidity among large financial firms once hard assets become more popular.

-The $2.50 Indian Head gold coin series had fairly low mintages, especially compared to larger pre-1933 gold coins like the eagle ($10 piece) or double eagle ($20 piece).  The total mintage for the entire quarter eagle Indian Head series was only 7.25 million, with no single year even reaching a mintage of 1 million.

-Even though the NGC or PCGS MS-64 Indian Head quarter eagle coin you will receive is a random date, it is probable that you will get a common date from the 1920s (a 1925-D, 1926, 1927, 1928 or 1929).

-The surviving population of $2.50 Indian Head gold coins is much lower than the gross mintage figures would lead you to initially believe.  This is because huge numbers of these coins (along with other pre-1933 gold) were melted after President FDR nationalized the United State’s gold currency during the Great Depression.  According to PCGS and NGC population reports, a grand total of only 331,034 specimens have been certified between the two companies.

-Many pre-1933 generic slabbed Mint State U.S. gold coins have declined precipitously in price over the last ten years.  For example, between the summer of 2009 and the summer of 2019, common-date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head gold coins have plummeted by 50% to 60% in value.  But prices have now bottomed and are beginning to rise, providing a phenomenal buying opportunity for the savvy investor.

-These random date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head gold coins are eBay Bucks eligible!  That means that if you sign up for the eBay Bucks program and are patient enough to wait for an incentive period, you could get a 6% to 15% rebate on the purchase price of these coins.

-Generic U.S. gold coins are a wonderful bargain right now.  And these random date MS-64 $2.5 Indian Head coins are unbelievably cheap at only $624 each.  As an added bonus, MS-64 coins are generally the highest available grade before prices begin to rise exponentially with MS-65 and better examples.

 

Cons:

-Because they are random date coins, you don’t know exactly what you are going to get beforehand.  But the price is so low that I see this as a non-issue.

 

Read more fascinating Antique Sage numismatic spotlight posts here.

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1890 French Agricultural Medal by Hubert Ponscarme

1890 French Agricultural Medal by Hubert Ponscarme
Photo Credit: Enjoy Treasure

1890 French Agricultural Medal by Hubert Ponscarme

Buy It Now Price: $50.97 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This solid silver French agricultural medal from 1890 features the winged bust of the Roman god Mercury on the obverse and his caduceus (staff) surrounded by farm bounty on the reverse.

-This antique silver medal measures 40 mm (1.57 inches) in diameter and weighs 38 grams (1.22 troy ounces).  This is impressively large, surpassing both the size and weight of a U.S. silver dollar.

-The designer of this French agricultural medal, François Joseph Hubert Ponscarme (commonly shortened to Hubert Ponscarme), was a French sculptor and medalist who worked from the early 1850s until his death in 1903 at the age of 75.

-The inscription on the reverse of this medal reads “Cercle Agricole de Rethel Ardennes 1890”, which roughly translates as “Agricultural Cooperative of Rethel Ardennes 1890”.

-Hubert Ponscarme won several artistic awards during his life, including placing in the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome competition in 1854, 1855 and 1857.  He was also one of the French Emperor Napoleon III’s official medal portraitists during the 1850s and 1860s.

-Rethel is a small town located in the Ardennes department of northeastern France.  Purportedly founded by the Roman general Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, Rethel was a center for wool-spinning and the manufacture of woolen fabrics in the late 19th century.

-Created near the end of Hubert Ponscarme’s career, this French agricultural medal reflects his technical maturity as an artist.  This can be seen in the marvelous details of Mercury’s bust and also how the grape vine clings to the presentation plaque on the medal’s reverse.

-This French agricultural medal comes straight out of the country’s famous Belle Époque period, which stretched from 1871 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.  This cultural golden age produced many notable French people, including the chemist Marie Curie, the artist Paul Gauguin, and the mathematician/physicist Henri Poincaré.

-Ponscarme was known for using typography as a central feature of his medal designs.  This is clearly visible in the example above, where the bold, Roman-inspired font frames the medal perfectly.

-The $51 asking price is unbelievably cheap for a 130 year old, solid silver French medal in absolutely superb condition.  I have absolutely no reservations about recommending this piece as a top-notch investment.

 

Cons:

-Agricultural medals are not as popular as transportation-themed medals showing automobiles, trains or airplanes.  But with a buy-it-now price of only $51, it is tough to go wrong with this beautiful antique silver medal from the height of the French Belle Époque.

 

Read more fascinating Antique Sage numismatic spotlight posts here.

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Read in-depth Antique Sage investment guides here.