Cave art by Shanghai Mints - 3rd brass medal - THE YUNGANG GROTTOES

Hey

Everyone, too busy with full time job recently. less focus on collection and taking photo. My poor iphone does not work a good photo

Here the Cave art by Shanghai mints. This is the 3rd medal of the series with brass, 80 mm diameter, 2000 mintage with box and coa.

Front side of the medal is the scenic of Yungang cave with Chinese and English word of Yungang at right side the medal.

The reserve side of the medal is the 20th cave Buddha statute at right with fairly flying around the lotus at left side.

PM me If you like it and intend to get it

 

Impressive ultra high relief...thank you for sharing.



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So, at what point do these cease being medals, and instead become "chunks of metal" due to extreme high-relief? :lol:


That is insane..

 

Ha! Call it what you will, they are still the most beautiful medals being produced in the world today in mine and plenty of others' view.

By comparison, look at the total garbage that the most prestigious and wealthiest mint in the US calls medals:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/medals/



Look at total garbage that the Perth Mint calls a medal:

http://www.perthmint.com.au/catalogue/silver-coins-gods-of-olympus.aspx





I rest my case.



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Other mints should be ashamed of themselves.

If the Chinese can do it, so can they. Yes?


Obviously part of it is the Chinese designs, which are very cool. But certainly other countries could come up with their own themes relevant to their respective countries, and have them come out very visually appealing, correct?

Yes, aware that there are some other non-China medals out there -- but they still don't compete.


Highly detailed, intricate design of an ultra-high-relief kook in a similar fashion would be awesome, for example. Listening, Perth?


Anyway, the 45mm China medals are cool, but seems like the relief of the 70-80mm ones are that much more pronounced/exaggerated due to size/weight?

Only ask because I don't have any of the larger ones -- yet?

 

Forgot to mention:

Definitely recommend brass (in antique finish).


Still prefer the Ag, but brass is very nice, too.

I have a couple, and they seem to "pop" even that much more than Ag. Guessing it has to do with the color, as well as the specific metal properties, themselves.

Considering getting others. Look nicer in person.


Plus, typically (but not always?) lower cost than Ag. Good way to get into these without breaking the bank.

 

I agree, in general brass, bronze, and copper high relief coins and medals often look better than their silver counterparts. But that being said, of all those metals, of course only one, silver, is considered a 'noble' metal.




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Don't get me wrong: The Ag is still hot -- and most preferred of the bunch. Just that one shouldn't rule out brass, for various reasons.


Personally not a fan of the bronze or straight copper.. Just seems cheap / crude, to me.


Appears that brass holds up better over the long haul. Not to mention its superior brightness & clarity.

The Chinese seem to like brass, as well.


All about that zinc, which makes the difference..!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Zinc_fragment_sublimed_and_1cm3_cube.jpg

 

Some bronze is made with zinc. I've never heard that brass holds up better than bronze....is that anecdotal or is there legitimacy to that? Source please.

I prefer bronze and copper over brass for the reason you prefer brass....brass seems cheap to me. But I think you might be right in believing that in general Chinese medal buyers do seem to prefer brass over copper.

AndrewLee, what say you on the Chinese preferring brass over copper? True or not?



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You see what a 1988 Panda Brass is fetching these days? Oh, only 6K. We're talking brass. The details are a bit more crisp and clean because of the properties of the medal. I don't have too many brass...yet. If do get any, they will be low mintage ones. Under 500 minimum.

I just think the Chinese have mastered the high relief medal concept. The pagoda was hand designed, and took about 2 years to complete. These Chinese designers and mints are simply amazing. Their creativity knows no bounds. For example, to produce the old summer palace medal, Frank Wang said that a few dies broke due to the pressure of producing a master piece like this. But they were determined to get it right, and right they did. I don't think other mints are that patient. It's about the $$ for them. The chinese know the money will follow quality, but quality is #1. They suck at marketing, however, but this is where we come into play. hehehe. We will help them get their amazing products into the hands of people who appreciate craftsmanship and beauty and art on a medal. Can you imagine if the Perth advertised some of the medals the Chinese offers, with a mintage of 199 and 299. I mean, seriously, they'd sell out in 60 seconds. They are the masters at marketing, and they have an army of folks selling their product. The chinese medals are sold more or less thru word of mouth, and I'm happy to oblige.

 

Andy, cut that sucker open, and take a picture of the raw, naked medal. Your pictures suck. LOL. :lol: Let's see the real thing. Scissors. Snip, snip. Click, click. And then post the pictures...then we'll all drool.

 

Well put Barsenault!

If the Chinese mints had 1/100th of the marketing ability and finesse that the Perth Mint has, I do think many of these Chinese medals would be sold out in a day.

I'm sure that the Perth Mint spends a lot of money and works hard on their marketing....to their credit of course. And then there's the massive network of PM fans and dealers and sellers that are part of the massive marketing of PM products.

The Chinese could learn a lot perhaps from the marketing model that the PM has going. And the PM could learn a lot from the Chinese about making superior quality medals.



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That medal may be for sale so therefore he may not want to cut the plastic pouch. I wouldn't if I was going to sell a Chinese medal in a sealed pouch. But it's true, the pouches can obscure a lot of the fine detail. I have learned how to take very good pictures of high relief Chinese medals inside the plastic pouches. Just ask Stark...I sent him some pictures a week or two ago. I think he is still drooling today.



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Brass is more welcoming than cooper and bronze in china.

 

LOL. I am lazy and only take photo at night with my poor iphone.

I wish not cut it because not intend to grade it. The grading for brass is always risky and tend to get low grade.

 

It is better not to market so much. The price will up very fast like the world heritage and panda goat medal.

Let few of us buy more before the price up

 

Boils down to composition percentage, as it can vary depending on application..


But brass for medals = copper + high amount of secondary zinc.

Bronze = copper + secondary tin.


Higher % of zinc in brass, than tin in bronze.

In other words, bronze closer to straight copper, than brass is.


I see photos/videos of old brass pieces versus old bronze pieces. Brass seems to fare better, at least in terms of surface appearance. But depends on particular environmental conditions, too -- and again, exact composition & alloy processes.

Brass wins it, hands down, IMO. Just looks better, both short-term & long-term. Perhaps subjective? Whatever floats one's boat.


But seems a lot more brass than bronze for Chinese medals. Why is this?


You gobble up bronze. I'll gobble up brass. Works for both of us!

 

Too many Asian sellers too scared to snip snip, slab slab..

Big chicken. Bawk bawk.