Gentlemen,
What are your thoughts on victorian miniature medals and I refer to period, contemporary examples and not these awful modern made "silvered" things that you can buy today.
So we are talking, silver, silk ribbon and swivel suspensions etc, do you think they merit the very high prices now being charged?
Do any of you collect these as either single specimen examples or groups?
Regards Frank.

Frank,

That is an interesting question. For me, I am not that much of a fan of miniature groups, even contemporary one. A group of mounted contemporary miniatures can look fabulous and makes an attractive display so I can certainly see the attraction. I can also appreciate the precision with which many were made and sympathise with the task of trying to fit long names onto tiny clasps!

Perhaps it's the fact that they were not official that is a little off-putting or that dreaded word 'attributed' that goes before descriptions of groups. Alternatively, it could be the quite high prices demanded by the attributed groups. My brother and I once owned the miniatures to someone and these consisted of two sets of miniature medals, one from earlier in the career and one from later. Whereas a recipient would only receive (usually) one full size award, they could buy as many miniature sets as they wanted.

Named miniatures are more interesting but even they fall short, for me at least, of their full size equivalents.

Regards
David

Hi David,
I agree with you, they have always been uninteresting to me, though, the victorian made examples are quite attractive I feel, but some of them are really quite rare when compared with the full sized issued version, a case in point would have to be the BSA Co medal.
They are not something I have ever collected to be honest but the prices now being asked are enough to put me off!
Regards Frank

Frank Kelley wrote:
Hi Frank......

Just modified the quote a little as I like Victorian / Edwardian made miniatures...... Especially when they come with the full size medals.....

The cost the other day on an online auction site for a mini QSA with DOK and DOK Star are now the price that I paid for a full size set many years ago.....

Mike

Hello Mike,
I know what you mean, very happy days indeed and not very many years ago either, for me, I had a look around last week and was staggered by some prices quoted, I suppose that I should have squirreled some away years ago, but I did not!
A contemporary miniature Kimberley star would be pretty rare now I would think and I'm talking about the silver one, not the hallmarked gold ones!
Kind regards Frank