This was on another forum: And this is the crux of the matter, IMHO. I consider him a China Medals Expert. :lol: PandaOrLunar: Is there a way to tell which medals are commissioned by official government entries due to sufficient events/reasons from another Joe Blow down the street with money and connection to the mints? barsenault: I'm curious to know the answer too. Thanks Panda/Lunar. Also, as you well know, I think there are a lot of medals, nice ones like the classial garden series, that is commissioned by private investors. Is it less inferior than 'official enteries?' Before anyone lambastes me, that is a sincere question. fwang: It has more to do with who the designer and engraver is than who initiates the program or where it is minted. Quite a few retired Shanghai Mint and Shenyang Mint artists have been working for private mints, like Chen Jian who designed the Year of the Child series and many pandas, and Song Wenyuan who designed the first lunar Rooster and the award-winning Marco Polo coins. Do their works (medals) lose appeal because they are not minted by official mints? The designers and engravers of the Classical Garden series are all top artists from Shanghai Mint and the China Bank Note Printing and Coin Making Co. That ensures the quality and artistic value. With medals, as with other artwork, the artist is more important than the venue or the sponsor/commissioner. Who remembers the commissioner of Mozart's Requiem?
I hope this doesn't come off in the wrong way to anyone....my intention is not to offend. I of course consider Barsenault a friend and I certainly think well of Frank Wang. So, even if the medal is designed and sculpted by someone who didn't used to work at the official mint or is not a household name amongst Chinese coin collectors, that still doesn't mean that the medal is not worth owning. I think there is too much needless fixation on "official" mint or "official" person. I personally don't care if someone is considered "official". I care if they produce excellent work. For example, before sculptor Marcel Jovine was commissioned by or started working for the official mint of the U.S. (the U.S. Mint), does that mean that his medals were not worth buying? The same could be asked of or said for Heidi Wastweet or any talented sculptor or designer. You see, I don't get encumbered by whether or not a medal is an "official mint" product or designed by someone who held an "official" position somewhere previously. If I were looking at Chinese medals as purely an investment vehicle, then maybe I would care....or maybe I would re-think why I am buying Chinese medals in the first place. Fortunately, I do have a clear idea of why I buy the Chinese medals I do...because I think they are excellent examples of craftsmanship in metal. I value excellent craftsmanship and I think many if not most medal collectors do too. It's because of this that I believe that if a medal is of very high design / manufacture quality (in whatever aspects there could be) that there is a good chance that plenty of collectors today and years down the road may recognize this and have a desire to own a product (Chinese medals in this discussion) of high quality. High quality design is not the only factor which spurs interest in a Chinese medal, but it is an important factor I believe. Since supply and demand tends to drive value, I believe that such medals (of high quality) can fair well, in terms of value, in the long run. And that's not to say that a poorly designed medal can't have strong demand, but then we may note that the demand is of some other nature (marketing hype for example) and that medal may not stand the test of time in terms of holding its value. .
Indeed Missing, we are good friends, and never any offense taken. I think that was the point Frank was making too. You see, there were some folks on another forum who were saying or should I say, I think they were implying, that if it doesn't come from an official mint, or isn't commissioned by govt. that it isn't worthy. My question to this person is it less inferior because it's not 'official' but created by private investors? And Frank chimed in and I believe agreed with us. It's about the design. It's about the artist. It's about the 'painting.' Sure there are other factors, as we've discussed before. I'm just glad that someone like Frank, who commands a lot of respect, especially in that forum, chimed in, and said what he did. :lol:
I has been influenced and convinced by mmsing. I has bought xi shi silver even without box and coa because I will grade it. Later, I buy the Mayan medal. I just receive yesterday. At first, I not fully reject private mints product but I prefer official mints. Therefore xi shi been siting there for year which I can get it a much lower price but I did not. I need to buy at higher price now. Just buy the things you like and within financial ability. You will not feel super sad if the price down in market. I try to avoid And emotional of the expert, dealers and layman comments in my buying decision. However, I yet to 100% immune. I give one good example, dealer ask me not to buy world heritage 300 gram medal because it is unwanted product in China. I decide to buy few set. I have proved him wrong. He even buyback one of the medal from me to sell.
