We try to be objective and share information on quality historical items from world's fairs about which we write, with no particular regard as to whether the seller might actually be a competitor of ours. There seldom is competition since collectors and institutions alike are all searching for historically important, high-quality and interesting items that will enhance a collection, in this case, from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

On very rare occasions one will see two sellers on eBay or two consignors in a major auction or even two websites with very high-quality and at least semi-rare and virtually identical pieces—say, proof HK222 high-relief aluminum liberty head medals. We suggest these because proofs are very rare, but in the last two years, 10–15 outstanding and amazingly high-grade pieces have been offered in the marketplace.

Rumors were that a small group or horde of 10–15 or more were discovered and authenticated by NGC. Of course, in any type of coinage, it would be nearly impossible to have 10 pieces stored away (even together) for a century that were struck so identically and remained virtually identical so that over time they would have the same grade.

That is no doubt why we have seen several of these beautiful medals ranging from PR63 to PR66. We understand a PR67 has been graded and sold also, but we did not see the specimen. The difference in numeric grade and the designation as "ultra cameo" or just "cameo" is not instantly identifiable to many collectors; to others, the graded difference stands out at first glance. But in all types of coin grading, eye appeal is but one factor in the grading.

In this highly unusual scenario where two of the rarest and nicest Columbian So-Called Dollars are in the marketplace simultaneously you might be faced with two sellers competing for your dollars. It is a scenario that presents very different purchasing opportunities. You have a chance to do very well, or to be overwhelmed with higher-than-anticipated prices. Combine this with the fact that one or both of the dealers may have purchased their item at an unusually low price due to the previous owner's need for cash in this tough marketplace. Even two to three years ago, when talk of a plummeting economy was still just talk, prices were all across the board on these items.

Some dealers, as we unfortunately have seen, took advantage of the unstable market, polished their marketing skills (to a deceptive degree) and began offering "the best ... the finest ... the most sought after ... the most valuable" World's Columbian SCD out there. Through the one or two of our "favorite" eBay sellers—who pitch an inflated value of a "slab" and not the actual grade—you might have seen a 63 offered at twice that of a 65; it's just one of the issues everyone must endure.

But being a buyer at a time such as this can be a major windfall if you know the facts, pay attention to details and become an astute shopper.

Proof cameo HK222s have sold recently for $300 and $1,000 and several stops in between, but there was no direct correlation between grade and price. The Hibler & Kappen Second edition of So-Called Dollars uses a scale of:
R-10: Unique, only one known
R-9: 2–4 known
R-8: 5–10 known
R-7: 11–20 known

If an anxious buyer were offered an NGC-slabbed proof that he knew was probably an R-8 (or maybe an R-7, but no lower on the scale) for, say, $695, he probably would jump at the chance—whether it was a 63 or a 65, and whether it was a 63 ultra-cameo or "just" a cameo.

You might have seen each aluminum medal carrying the same PROOF and CAMEO designation, with only the numeric grade different—63, 64, 65 or even 66—for sale during the past year.

The brief table below shows prices we have noted offered, and prices we would suggest as logical based on the grade changes, the rarity and the market.

Adding to the always-prevalent confusion are several facts about these very attractive liberty head obverse/Columbus landing scene reverse SCDs. They were struck in aluminum in various sizes and in other metals (but not all metals) in all sizes, and there were some sizes/metals struck with a low-relief design versus the generally accepted, more attractive high-relief.

And in coins, medals and tokens, it is common that grading and accuracy issues arise because an unknown and probably small percentage are third-party graded. Now, it's only NGC among quality services that slab medals, and many old collections have HK222 proofs happily residing unslabbed; that is changing slowly and we'll offer a detailed look at slabbing in another issue.

With world's fair items, for example, NGC only somewhat recently began encapsulating and grading tokens and medals, and the other major third-party services still only deal with coins, not tokens and medals. We know of many HK222s that are called "Gem BU Prooflike" in ungraded collections. How many may be proofs?

We can never ignore the less-educated or less-honest dealers who decide 1) that a slab/encapsulation translates to very high prices or means rarity, and 2) that the raw item they have purchased can be called a "proof" without knowing the criteria and banking on few collectors knowing, either. Novice collectors are very often misled into believing that somehow a token or medal in an NGC holder must be rare or of high value. One well-known eBay dealer constantly touts MS61 and MS62 NGC designation as "RARE." While some may be, this dealer's tokens and medals usually are not. In fact, his $200–$300 and higher offerings are $40 tokens and medals!

Another "trick" is citing NGC's "Population Report." We recently saw a dealer citing the extreme rarity of a token (MS62) noting its NGC Pop Report was "1." Of course, several were graded higher and that Pop Report was for 62s that were graded; the second part of that population report would read, "8 graded higher," for example. The population numbers for medals and tokens were nearly meaningless since NGC had only been encapsulating tokens and medals a short time; that may be changing, but very slowly. When several thousand coins of a date and type have been graded in all BU numeric grades, then a Pop of, say, 7 or 8, has meaning. NGC and PCGS, among others, have graded hundreds of thousands of COINS in the years since their businesses began and made a monumental impact on numismatics. To claim that populations and the use of this sparse historical data have even a fraction of relevance (as compared to that of coins) is ludicrous.

As collecting SCDs and other tokens and medals grows in popularity, and demand increases, graded populations will grow and begin to have more meaning. We may even see PCGS begin slabbing exonumia; it's surprising they still do not. But until this occurs, giving much credence to population figures is clearly a mistake.

One of the best-known World's Columbian medals from 1893 is the HK154, a dollar-sized piece featuring the U.S. Government Building at the fair. This is one of the lowest grade HK154s we've seen. It's cataloged as an R2 (not the most common, but hardly scarce), meaning you can pretty much find one any time you go to a coin show or log onto eBay. An uncirculated specimen, say a MS60-62, generally sells for $10–20. The following was advertised on eBay. The accompanying text is verbatim, and the accompanying photo is that of the advertised "gem." We thought you would enjoy another example of an allegedly "honest, professional" dealer at work.

"Here we have one very nice Chicago 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition Souvenir Medal. The medal has been holed at some time, but that does not detract. The token is a very nice original coin. Please look at the scan and grade the token for yourself. I do not attach a grade to the medal as grading is very subjective and I am by no means an expert, so I will leave that up to you to grade the medal based on the scan. This is a very nice looking medal and would be a great upgrade or addition to any collection."

At right is a high-grade HK154, just to provide a bit of comparison to the eBay-offered "gem."

The SCD (So-Called Dollar) was introduced to the collecting world and popularized by Harold Hibler and Charles Kappen nearly a half century ago; their book, So-Called Dollars, includes world's fair, centennial, municipal and various other medals measuring approximately dollar-size. The original hardcover edition from the Coin and Currency Institute is copyrighted 1963 and is long out of print; copies still turn up on the internet or via used book dealers. The book's new 2008 edition updated a variety of things, but NOT the number of SCDs included.

The revision was edited by Tom Hoffman, a longtime Columbiana collector and colleague of ours, as well as Dave Hayes, Jonathan Brecher and John Dean. The editors utilized a network of experts to ensure the updates were more than just accurate. We were pleased to be among those cited in the book—alongside nearly 40 others who contributed to a reference guide you know is accurate. A common theme in PERSPECTIVE™ in this and future issues is the importance of finding and utilizing experts you trust—for both their knowledge and their honesty. The H&K book is universally acknowledged as an indispensable reference.

Still, within the scope of this hobby bible, there are only about 1,000 numismatic items, plus of course the variations and varieties in metal and type, which increases the entries by perhaps 25 percent. Interestingly, well over one-third of those listed in the book are from our favorite fair, the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. For those who collect medals, tokens, encased coins, counterstamps and others, the encyclopedic work is still but a tiny compilation of the exonumic universe. In future issues we will address not only specific questions of rarity, design and variety of So-Called Dollars (and medals and tokens of all types of historical interest), but also the historical relevance.