Owner Comments:
This charming medal by J. W. Moore depicts the famous daredevil's crossing of the gorge at Niagara Falls on the reverse. His Royal Highness the Price of Wales witnessed the feat on September 14, 1860, during his visit to Canada.
This is a rare medal as I can trace only 17 examples, assuming none are duplicates. Of course more are out their, so it is not in the R7 range as previously reported in some of the auction offerings. This example was previously offered in Heritage's World Coin Auction August 2015 as an XF and encapsulated with NGC shortly after (interesting difference in grading opinion there). I have acquired seven other examples on eBay over the past few years (a select mint state, a MS with hairlines, a high end AU, an AU with hole, an XF, an XF with graffiti, and a damaged VF). I have seen additional examples as follows:
9. MS offered on eBay in late 2020 by a seller in England. Nice example with light scratch and rim bruise. Seller and I could not agree on a price and it was eventually purchased by another collector.
10. MS/AU offered by Hedley Betts Medals in California (sold per their website, date unknown)
11. MS/AU scratched offered on eBay in Spring of 2019. This is only one of three appearances of this medal on eBay in the last 6 years that I have not been able to purchase. I was under-bidder and jacked up the winner, a la Dave Hester in Storage Wars, to a bid of over $260. That bidder must have really wanted one of these as that is a lot of money for a scratched medal!
12. AU pictured as an unlisted-type of So Called Dollar on John Raymond's wonderful site
13. AU/XF on eBay in mid-2019. This is one of three appearances of this medal on eBay that I was not able to purchase in the last few years. Looked like a decent example. Also looked like it was offered as a Buy It Now as it was already sold by the time I viewed it. Otherwise I would have been in on the bidding.
14. VF offered by Stacks in their April 18, 2007 auction
15. VF holed offered in a lot of "personality" medals by Geoffrey Bell Auctions in Canada (Windsor Sale 2011)
16. and 17. Per the BHM reference, examples reside in the Ashmolean and Birmingham museums in England
My opinion on this example is in line with NGC, as this is a lovely MS example with semi-proof-like fields. There is no wear on any of the high points or fields, and characteristic of white metal medals of this era, every blemish is intensified. I see many delicate die polish lines in fields on the reverse attesting to the mint state preservation of this piece.