How will these medals be distributed/sold?
There is a QQ group, where people can reserve the medals at the release price. But the reservation period ended at last year. What I hear is that the brass versions are extremely in demand, probably due to the low price. There are two general distributors for this set, one for the domestic market, the other for the overseas market. This is the first time the distributor model is used, and so there is no forecast what the price structure will be like.
Please be aware that the reserved medals will be OMP. If someone wants to buy graded ones, he or she will have to wait till grading is done, probably at a pretty high premium if the grading results do not turn out as expected. The antique finish Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) had only only a few 69's out of the more than 100 submitted for grading.
eBay dealers like Lucky will have some pieces for sale, although I do not know how many he reserved. If you are interested in OMP, I will ask the sponsors of the series as well as the general distributors about the availability at the release prices or slightly higher prices. Please PM me with the version(s) you are interested in and how many. I will see what I can do.