Topic: Great Wall 1984 3.3 oz. Silver Medal - Two Versions

[Kirin]

I would your guest is as expert as any.  the people that actually worked & minted out the pieces are long gone from 1984 era.  Maybe they will do a mathematical logarithm program to diagnose?   
Regards
 

[fwang2450]

As for the Great Wall type 1 and type 2....I thought that they were released in different years....sorry I misunderstood that.

According to Huang Ruiyong, those were released in different years, first in 1982, second (the correct version) in 1987. You can refer to his silver medal star list for the dates.

[Kirin]

Thank you for the info, why then has NGC labeled them both as 1984?

[mmissinglink]

Yes, there is a lot of mystery still regarding the Great Wall medals. It seems for a long time, it was believed by the community of people who sought these rare medals that they were minted all in 1984 but perhaps the latest research shows that these elusive medals were actually minted not in 1984 but in 1982 and 1987 respectively. maybe the researchers at NGC do not have the latest information or maybe Huang Ruiyong is wrong. My guess is that Mr Huang Ruiyong has the correct information about the years these medals were minted and that NGC doesn't. That's my impression but I am only a novice.

[fwang2450]

Thank you for the info, why then has NGC labeled them both as 1984?

NGC got many dates wrong on the medals. They don't care whether they are restrikes from a different year. RAREMEDAL suggested they do not give dates if they are not sure.

[Russ 736]

You are so correct Fwang. NGC must be shown documentation or examples that they have already graded to get dates and or varieties correct. This is especially true on medals as coins usually have dates. I don't think it is due to the fact that they don't care. They just don't have time to do research on every undated medal that gets submitted. The burden of proof falls on the submitter and it can quite a ride to get to the correct destination. My experience has been that they will listen to reason but proof of some sort is required.

Russ

[mmissinglink]

I am surprised that not more solid facts is known about these Great Wall medals. Afterall, they were minted in the 1980's, not the 1180's. There must be people still alive who have good knowledge of these medals....right?

[fwang2450]

mmisinglink, can you check again whether the characters on the seal of your medal are raised? From the photos, yours looks more like another 87 mirror medal with sunken characters, than the 82 mirror with raised characters.

[mmissinglink]

@  fwang,  This medal is mine....I had it graded by NGC last year:  3692382-001

It is now in a safe deposit box, so not easy to get to. To me, it looks like the raised letters.

[SANDAC]

Congratulation!  I have been wondering about the outcome of last year's excellent discussion.  You must be very happy with the PF63 grade.

[mmissinglink]

Yes, Sandac, happy and happily surprised. I still kick myself though....how could I be so ignorant. I suppose in hindsight, it's easy to see how we made such bad decisions. I assumed, until I found this forum, that the Great Wall medal I owned was merely a common trinket that had no more value than what I paid for it. I wasn't even sure it was real silver....never had it tested or anything like that.

I was planning on putting it up on eBay for under $100. Then, after a few years of casual curious searching on the internet with no success, I finally got a Google hit to China-Mint.info and to my surprise, there was a lot of excitement about medals that seemed to be very descriptive of mine. That's when I joined and made my first posts to this forum.

I am grateful to some of the members here who are so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic about Chinese medals, and most importantly to me, so helpful.

By a long margin, the Great Wall medal I own is my prized possession because of the great mysteries still surrounding these medals as well as my own personal interesting story about it.

[fwang2450]

@  fwang,  This medal is mine....I had it graded by NGC last year:  3692382-001

It is now in a safe deposit box, so not easy to get to. To me, it looks like the raised letters.

Thanks for the number. I am asking because I bought the recent eBay listing. Upon close examination, the characters are sunken. The pictures from you of your medal look like to have sunken characters, too. Besides, they match all the die features of the 87 medals known to have sunken characters, including mine. And they have the same wide strokes. I am really puzzled how yours is raised given all the same die characteristics.

NGC's pictures are misleading, to say the least. Compare the following two, which are from the same medal. One from Peter, the other from NGC.

[fwang2450]

@  fwang,  This medal is mine....I had it graded by NGC last year:  3692382-001

It is now in a safe deposit box, so not easy to get to. To me, it looks like the raised letters.

Here is the comparison of the pictures from you and from NGC respectively.

[fwang2450]

Yes, Sandac, happy and happily surprised. I still kick myself though....how could I be so ignorant. I suppose in hindsight, it's easy to see how we made such bad decisions. I assumed, until I found this forum, that the Great Wall medal I owned was merely a common trinket that had no more value than what I paid for it. I wasn't even sure it was real silver....never had it tested or anything like that.

I was planning on putting it up on eBay for under $100. Then, after a few years of casual curious searching on the internet with no success, I finally got a Google hit to China-Mint.info and to my surprise, there was a lot of excitement about medals that seemed to be very descriptive of mine. That's when I joined and made my first posts to this forum.

I am grateful to some of the members here who are so knowledgeable, so enthusiastic about Chinese medals, and most importantly to me, so helpful.

By a long margin, the Great Wall medal I own is my prized possession because of the great mysteries still surrounding these medals as well as my own personal interesting story about it.

I have heard/witnessed many such cases. Fortunately you did not sell your medal cheap. I am sure the seller of this listing did not expect the high price either for his "touring medals": http://www.ebay.com/itm/301099874767?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649. Not long ago, a seller listed a 86 Great Wall circulating coin set on ebay and got a BIN price for $4000. I am sure he was very happy, but the set is worth at least three times the BIN price.

There are such little treasures here and there. We all need to keep our eyes open.

[fwang2450]

Here is a comparison of the seals on the 82 mirror vs the 87 mirror. Characters on the 87 mirror have wider strokes, probably because they are sunken.