Hello Fellow Numista Members,
I had received help on identifying the medal "It was minted in the Soviet Union. It is a district medal, such as the Soviet Union did for most or all of the districts/oblasts/ republics"
but didn't get an example of what cataloger it would reside in, to value it is most important, for insurance reasons above all else. Any help greatly appreciated on valuation, I know it is at least worth its melt value, it is an ounce of .925 silver. Thanks!
It's a bit strange medal and I was unable to find any information on it though usually I am good at it. Some info I was able to find is:
This is not USSR (which ceased to exist in 1991) but rather Russian Federation - the coat or arms for Khabarovsk district was introduced later, in 1994. Khabarovsk district was created by the government decree in 1938 so I would assume that this medal was issued to commemorate either 60 year anniversary (1998) or 70 year anniversary (2008) of the district. There was actually a commemorative "medal" issued in 1998 - "60 years of Khabarovsk district" but it was made of yellow base metal and has the corresponding commemorative text on it.
You can see it here (disregard the text): http://www.voenznak.ru/eshhe-telefony/60-let-medal.html
Second strange thing is the sterling silver of your medal. You see, as far as I know, only two Russian mints (in Moscow and in St. Petersbourg) have the license to issue any coins or medals in silver - but than the medal should bear one of their mint sign. Just BTW - can you take a close-up photo or scan of the markings on the back of the medal? It's difficult to see anything on this photo.
All in all I would assume that this medal is some kind of private (fantasy) issue rather than official medal. And, correspondingly, there is no established price...
Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
Dave,
Thanks for the pictures - now I can read what is there. The right side mark on your medal is an old Soviet standard mark for sterling silver (star and 925). The left one reads "9ЮХЗ" which means that it has been made in 1999 by Khabarovsk Jewelry Factory (Хабаровский ювелирный завод) - a small enterprise about 50 employees established in Khabarovsk in 1993. Factory doesn't have a website and no information on it is available in Internet. If you are really interested, you can try to contact them to find who has ordered the medal and how many have been made, but I wouldn't hold my breath for it simply because it was 16 years ago and all documents are probably already in archive (and I bet they are not digitized...). Good luck anyhow.
Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
I would guess that the mintage is under 1000, but i will make an attempt to contact them, thank you so much for solving the mystery, such interesting history on this coin/medal too. It has been a 1 month ordeal.
Dave,
I think you can safely bet that the "coinage" was 100 rather than 1000. My educated guess is that it was kind of honorary medal for those who has significantly contributed to the development of the Khabarovsk region and the medal was (probably) ordered or authorized by the regional government. What makes this medal to stand out is real silver, in almost all cases all such honorary medals were made of anodized aluminum or - in best case scenario - of bronze.
Для всього свій час, і година своя кожній справі під небом
I had picked it up in a lot of silver coins, it is weird how it made it to a Hawaiian pawn shop, makes you wonder. Anyways, thanks for the knowledge, i could not have found out.
