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 Replies: 12 / Views: 6,595 |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Ok so I've been digging through some items to sell the past few days to try to raise money to fund a project. As my insomnia kicked into overdrive last night I started looking through my coin collection and similar items. I came across a Bicentennial commemorative coin with the liberty bell on the front and on the back is two American flags crossed (one from 1776 the other 1976 obviously) and the eagle in front of that with a registration number below and on the very bottom it reads; "The Commemorative Mint", along with their PO Box Address. It's an interesting item, it has a hoop on the top to connect a chain to be worn, it's about the size of a 50 cent piece but thicker and looks to be made of brass. I assume it's not worth more than 4 or 5 dollars but I'm bored so let's find it on ebay and check........ now I'm wondering. So sure enough I find the "medallions" made by this "commemorative mint" and it's about what I expected. EXCEPT, my coin (medallion) with the liberty bell on the front says "Spirit of '76" across the top... after searching every way I can think of for 2-3 hours I found hundreds of the medallions that say "spirit of '76" across the top like mine but they ALL have three men marching instead of the liberty bell and EVERY medallion I find with the liberty bell simply says "Liberty Bell" across the top. Everything else is the same though, 13 stars on the sides and the 1776-1976 date across the bottom.... So I know I can't be lucky enough to have a one off mistake (error) or something like that, plus this isn't a minted US "coin", but I'm thinking it has to at least be more rare than the hundreds I was able to find and hopefully more valuable.... hopefully someone knows something about these or can maybe steer me in the right direction. I appreciate any help!! I will try to upload a couple pics so everyone can see what I'm talking about... Edited by Ohiodiesel
04/20/2020 05:41 am
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
 to CCF. Waiting on pics. John1  |
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New Member
 United States
6 Posts |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Sorry, still getting used to being on an actual forum again. It's been a while lol and thanks
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Pillar of the Community
United States
581 Posts |
Unfortunately it is worth $5-10. There are a number of them on ebay. The Spirit of '76 Bicentennial medallion/medal/pendant produced by the Commemorative Mint has two different obverse designs (you have the Liberty Bell design obviously) and one reverse design. The is no variance in value between designs. |
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Congrats on 500 posts,contest time? John1 |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
to the Community! |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
@yellow88 thanks for the reply but, can you find one that has the liberty bell on the front AND "spirit of '76" across the top? I've found hundreds of them on ebay and other places like you said, for 4-$5 but they ALL have either the 3 men or the liberty bell on the front like you said (2 designs) but NONE of the ones I found have the liberty bell AND "spirit of 76" on the top... All the coins that say "spirit of 76" on the top have the 3 men below it. All the coins with the liberty bell on them say "liberty bell" on the top. This is what I can't figure out, because I've literally found hundreds of them but, none of them have the combination of "spirit of 76" with the liberty bell like that one I have. @ jbuck thank you sir Edited by Ohiodiesel
04/20/2020 11:52 am
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
I'm a fairly savy collector. I've been a sports card/memorabilia dealer and collector for 30 years. Though coin collecting is an entirely different world that I admit I mostly just "dabble" in, I know that sometimes the most subtle difference in an item can mean 100x difference in value.
So while I doubt I have a gold mine here with this item, when I find hundreds of them, all basically the same except this one subtle difference, it makes me question the scarcity of it....?
Edited by Ohiodiesel
04/20/2020 11:58 am
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CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives
United States
12254 Posts |
I took a few minutes to search ebay, and what I found seems to match your experience (but who knows what I may have missed!). There are many similar Liberty Bell medals, but I did not see one with "Spirit of '76" above the bell. The medals I did find had "Liberty Bell" above the bell. The Commemorative Mint did produce/advertise multiple designs for its Bicentennial medals, So it is very possible that your medal was generally available at the time. That said, it does not appear to be very common at the moment. Getting a premium for it today may be difficult, however, as the collecting of bicentennial medals is not incredibly popular at the moment (check back in 2026!). So, many collectors will not be willing to pay a significant amount. If you can confirm its scarcity via additional time watching ebay (and other) online auctions, you might be able to promote the medal with your findings and get a bit more. It's likely, however, that $20 to $30 would be the very top considering the other Liberty Bell pieces can be found for under $10. Just my thoughts... Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3079 Posts |
With the thousands of style of bi medals and tokens out there the chance of getting a premium is slight to nill. As been said the collectors have a wide and varied choice. Most end up in the bargain 50% off bins. I generally get a couple in each bulk lot I buy. may not be the same as yours. but cover the subject matter.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3170 Posts |
Amazingly I have these two.  Noticed an "A" to the left of the registration no.  Quote:
(check back in 2026!) Wow, 50 years. |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Lol thanks guys, pretty much what I was thinking. It looks like corporations could offer these for promotions or gifts, whatever it was they aren't extremely rare. I was basically hoping someone had some experience with these and since they have a serial/registration number - maybe I could get an actual number as to how many were minted like mine. Either way it wasn't printed by Uncle Sam so that also changes things. Either way, with all this time on my hands right now, my OCD is in high gear and I'm organizing, re-organizing and catologing a lot of stuff... lol But from the hours of research for what's basically most likely a $10 paperweight, it's obvious that the majority were minted the same way, so I would definitely be curious to find out how many were printed like mine... and until I see another one, I'm going with "someone made a mistake when they made the die and they minted only one as a test and somehow it got out the door"    With that said, if someone wanted to give me $50 for it, I'll cover the shipping!  @tunnioc - I don't recall seeing any others with the "A" before the reg. Number either. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 6,595 |
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Posted 04/20/2020 05:21 am
