Hello Folks, Another poser for you all. A friend of mine is cleaning out his basement and discovered these 12 Bicentennial Commemorative Sterling Silver Coins. (they may have been part of a 13 set his grandparents purchased). Just wondering if anyone has run into these and their origin? Thanks, RJ
The 12 medals shown (they are medals not coins) were issued by The Gorham Mint/Gorham Manufacturing Co. back in 1976. They are part of a US bicentennial set called "The 'Liberty Memorial' Collection." The set features commemorative medals representing each of the original 13 colonies. The maximum mintage for the collection was 5,000, but I have never seen a final mintage for the set; note: many sets sold during the bicentennial did not meet their maximum mintage.
The set of 13 medals (you appear to be missing one) was sold with a display box and a booklet - the medals were not encapsulated, just inserted into holes in the box. I've read that each medal weighs 27.5 grams. If that's accurate, you would multiply that figure by 0.925 (since they are sterling silver) and divide the result by 31.103 (grams in a troy ounce) to get 0.82 troy ounce of silver per medal. That would put the melt value of each medall at ~$13.80 (silver spot price of $16.84). As you have access to the medals, I would suggest weighing them yourself and then doing the math I've outlined if you get a different starting weight.
There haven't been many closed sales of the medals on ebay, but I did see two individual medals that sold recently for $15-16 each and a complete set of 13 medals with display box and booklet for $250.00 plus $5.00 shipping.
I get the sense from your post that you are looking for the current market value of the medals - the above should help get you there.
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