Coins DIG

On Bruce Gamage’s auction in held in Rockland, Maine, one out of ten phone bidders bought a gold medal offered by the Boston merchants to Commodore Matthew C. Perry "…in token of their appreciation of his services in negotiating the treaty with Japan signed at Yoku-Hama, March 31, and with Lew Chew at Napa, July 11, 1854…" The bidder paid $165,000 for the medal and offered an additional premium.

For information it is worth mentioning that the United States Mint struck the medal back in 1865. The medal was struck on demand and Boston merchants were the ones to pay for it. Along with the gold medal the US Mint also issued 20 silver and 104 bronze medals.

The price paid for the medal significantly exceeded the presale estimate of $30,000/40,000, which serious buyers posited. The owner of the medal preferred to remain anonymous, but the auctioneer Gamage mentioned that the buyer was a collector living in the New York City.

In the end it didn't really matter, however, Damage mentioned that after weighting the coin on a gram scale he presented the results on the size and weight to one of the bidders. The latter concluded that the medal "contained at least five thousand dollars worth of gold."

After taking the medal to a local jeweler Gamage said that Perry’s Gold Medal was consigned on behalf of an estate located in Long Island, New York.