A China Example Of My Medal In Silver Suddenly Shows Up?

I am willing to admit that many coins and medals from China are real. However, with that being said, it is also generally accepted that China leads the numismatic world in offering fakes, counterfeits, reproductions, copies, etc., without labeling them as such.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VENEZUELA-...AOSwBA1ctuC3

I have been researching my own medal in this series for about 3 years. The medals, often mistakenly referred to as coins (because the official explanation of a coin is that coins were issued by the government only (not by a major private bank). In this example in this series, they were minted in Germany and issued in Venezuela by a major bank in bolivares values according to their gram weight.

1. No medals in this series of any leader or year (1957, 1958, 1959) were struck in silver that I could find in any catalog. These were only struck in solid 22k gold all 3 years... as far as I know.

2. 1959 was the only year that they were struck as proofs, at least in gold.

3. They were never struck in 13 gram weights, at least in '
gold. But this means little.

4. After all this time (3 years of research), I suddenly see them available in silver for the first time. None in slabs/graded. I have seen plenty of the gold ones that were graded tho. I would think that any silver ones would be more numerous, and therefore more of the silver examples graded, however, this is not proof either way.

One possible clue is what great condition it is in after 60 years unslabbed and how suddenly available that it is available. The seller has two of these available that are of different leaders, and yet they both almost look like they just came from the mint. But then again, maybe they were ideally taken care of.

The problem is that there could be a logical explanation for the reasons I have pointed out, simply because it is allegedly in silver. Heck, it problably is silver. The problem I have is that even if it is silver, it is my opinion, until I can find out otherwise, that only that the design itself only was copied. But I cannot say for sure.

So, for now, I am willing to give the seller the benefit of the doubt. The main reason for this is because I myself got hit with "it's a fake'! opinions until I was able to prove otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty I say. Sorry to say I was not always treated that way myself, it was "guilty until proven innocent.

Here is an obverse image of the MacArthur one in gold. Please scroll down to see it on the right.

https://taxfreegold.co.uk/venezuela...aguerra.html

and here is the seller's listing...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/VENEZUELA-...AOSwKVVctuB~


However, I did message the seller, asking for a Krause or other catalog medal number. Here is his reply.


message from: yvonneleeshang (69Blue Star)

Hello Sir,

Thank you for your interesting.

I find this series in gold coin in Unusual world coins,
but no silver coin in catalog,maybe Krause have not these silver coins.
I have 13pcs of this series all difference, but I think it is not complete.
Pls kindly see attached the photos for gold coins in catalog.

Thanks & Best regards
Yewei Zhang


Reply

Your previous message

hello

interesting coin. could you take a picture of it in a Krause or other catalog, to include the coin's catalog example... KM# ?number? If you cannot do this, could you provide me with the Krause or other catalog number?

thanks... mike

I would like an opinion on this. At the least, the guy is polite!

just for sh*ts and giggles, here is mine... I dislike posting something without at least a picture, I apologize to have to provide only links for the other information. Please note that mine is a 1959 example, not a 1957, and that it is gold of an unpopular, but different, leader in WW2. There were 14-18 leaders total featured in the series under Venezuela "Chiefs In The Second War".

p.s. all 3 years had different reverse designs, but the seller's medal is patterned after the 1957 example. Of course at least the reverse design is going to be different, in that it is of a different gram weight and metal.


I am suspicious, but not so much that I am going to automatically cry "fake" because I know the feeling to be unjustly judged as such. It's just weird how suddenly the China ones in silver suddenly popped up after all this time and I cannot find it in any of my catalogs, but, then again, neither was I able to find mine in a catalog either, with its 11.7 gram weight

OK, HERE IS THE POINT: I would be curious if any of you that have world coin or medal catalogs have it in there... in silver. Altho technically a medal, it is usually listed in Krause COIN catalogs.

A bit of trivia... it did not take long for some countries to feature Hitler in medals/coins after WW2 ended. In fact, there is a Venezuela medal, of a different type, dated 1947, only 2 years after the war ended, in silver, of Hitler. (C-400, Colbert/Hyder, published in 1981, which btw mentions and pictures a 1957 Hitler in gold (C-401) but not in silver....hmmmm?, why not?), minted in Milan, Italy for a major private bank in Venezuela. Why would the catalog mention the 1957 examples in gold but not in silver)? Which means they got on it sometime shortly after the end of the war (1945) in order to have it in production in 1947.

I feel obligated to add that I am no fan of the monster Hitler but I am of history, even bad history.

A representative from Venezuela once boasted words to the effect that they "took in less Nazi's after the war than any other South American country". A real feather in their cap, eh?


mike