It seems Dragonzeng168 has already sold some of these.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=2015%20China%20Garden%20Mountain%20Resort%20Coin%20Medal&LH_PrefLoc=2&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684
Yes. It seems the medals get snapped up soon after listing except for the silver which stays longer, probably because of the higher mintage. thincat00 also has the silver medal listed on eBay. Both sellers have the silver priced at $249 subject to bargaining. I suspect the demand will be highest for the lowest mintage (antique-colored brass) medal since that is the key for the series. Collectors who are building sets are likely going to be scrambling for the lower mintage medals.
I wonder how the medal is doing in China? I can't read Mandarin so I cannot see for myself. From my understanding of reports in various forums I get the impression that there is a multiple sales platform for this release: (1) Some medals are being sold directly to the public while (2) ?500 and ?100 medals have been allocated to two distributors respectfully, and (3) some medals have been secured by dragonzeng168 and thincat00. Other eBay sellers may be coming out with theirs, either directly sourced from the mint or as resellers. Well connected individuals are probably getting theirs close to source.
It will take a few more weeks before the graded medals reach the market. I wonder how this batch will grade? How many PF70s and what will be their cost?
I haven't received medals I ordered but the photos I have seen online suggest very clean lines of design, with the silver medal looking like it has the best contrast. It is usually clearer when you hold the coin in your hand and look at it from various angles. Brass is traditionally a medal metal; I wonder how the various medals will compare to each other. Which do you think looks best?
The narrative behind the Classical Garden series has been interesting. I am still a newbie here but I get the impression that this is the most information we have had regarding the concept, design, production and sales of any MCC coin or medal but I stand to be corrected and learn more! So it is not just the medal you are looking at but you are being told how it was conceived and the hardwork that went into the production including the cracked dies. We have seen how the boundaries of minting technology have been breached. We have heard from some of the designers and their thoughts. In fact the designer of the Mountain Resort medals grew up in the same area where the resort is located.
Yes, there are also tales of subterfuge just as there used to be in the Emperor's courts! Some distributors were sidelined whilst others got good deals. Some had to beg for morsels whilst others are not too happy. Some are telling others how to sell their medals irrespective of what their own track record of multiple percentage profit returns is! It has indeed been an interesting time already!
I am really happy about the Classical Garden series of medals. This is a medal series I got to on time. Most other coins and medals I met on starting my MCC collection were released years ago (not a bad thing in collecting) and have been relatively much more expensive to acquire than contemporary releases. Many of them are physically and financially out of my reach! I can only admire them from a distance! This time I am sharing the experience of every facet of the evolution of the Classical Garden medals.
Not every aspect of the medals is great. Specifically the issue of white spots and haze has also dodged the silver medals of the series. Rhodium plating has been used for the Yuanmingyuan medal but there are reports of some of the medals showing underlying changes likely to be due to white spot formation. It is too early to say what the experience will be with the Mountain Resort silver medal. White spots and haze have been reported from virtually all of the mints world wide. The cause seems enigmatic and may not be as simple as some posit. I hope the industrial chemists are working on this problem!
Somewhere stirrings of the next medal in the series has already be begun. I wonder what it will look like. I wonder when we shall see the design proposals. Will the design be radically different from what we have seen so far? Will it include human figures, identifiable plant and tree species. Who will be the designer? What aspect of Chinese culture and history will be documented and communicated through these medals?
Meanwhile back to the Mountain Resort medals. When do I get mine?!!!!