If you have placed an order for 2008 Medallions please take the time to read this posting and respond as quickly as possible so that the medallions can be mailed out immediately.
Last spring we began our efforts towards the 2008 medallion quest. If you remember, as most of us do, precious metals were surging to levels we have not seen in years and years. My/Our fears were the medallion quest would be an extremely expensive program to pull off. With high metal prices I (just me) made the decision to raise the price of the silver medallions to $35.00 which was up $5.00 over the 2007 prices. The price of the copper medallions would remain the same. We eliminated the brass offering in 38mm and instead opted to add the 63mm pewter medallions which Daniel Carr had GIVEN as a GIFT to members who ordered the 2007 medallions. They were well received by the membership and many requested we add them to our list of offerings. One thing I/We did not count on was the additional costs for 63mm engraving and sculpting but with donations to the Royal Treasury at a good level I figured we would be covered if our orders for the medallions were similar to the 2007 medallions. For the most part things went very well but production was delayed by Daniel Carr during his set-up of his coin press during the summer months. Daniel kept in touch with us but requested we remain silent about his new venture into the actual striking of the medallions. We agreed with his request and were fully aware of the huge undertaking he and his business were going through. It would be a long labor of love for Daniel and a unique opportunity for us to have our medallions struck on a piece of history from the Denver Mint.
I posted a cost breakdown late last fall here in the forum and was eagerly keeping track of our total order and monies coming in.
No one here had any idea the price of precious metals, especially silver and copper, would make a drastic drop before Daniel would be ordering the blanks for striking. It was a huge saving for us but it did not alter the costs for design, sculpting, engraving, striking, or edge lettering and numbering. I was still concerned about the two payments I would be making to Designs Computed for their work on our medallion quest. My first payment of $2,000.00 was sent out around Nov. 20, 2008 (also $4 charge for Cashier Check) as I wanted to get Daniel paid for the basics, which included design fees, sculpting, engraving and also for the price of silver blanks while the price was at such low levels. We would be looking at one final payment based on the amount of medallions struck, amount of medallions that would be edge lettered, the total amount of copper and pewter blanks needed to fill our order. It was my personal opinion, as I monitored the orders that came in, we would fall short of the monies needed to sustain these payments BUT with the donations which poured in throughout the year I knew we had a safety net to cover the last installment due to Designs Computed. We were indeed going to make it. My/Our only goal, regardless of the cost of each individual medallion, was to raise enough money to make the medallion quest a reality. Also our goal, after talking with various members throughout the year, was to offer a wide range of medallions so that everyone, regardless of their income could afford to participate in this program. I feel we have done so.
Now, after crunching numbers, we have been notified we have over charged on the silver medallions, as well as, the copper medallions. Also we have under charged on the pewter medallions (actually quite a bit) due to the cost of engraving and sculpting 63mm dies. But in the end we can STILL pay our balance which should have been $3,300 for the entire medallion quest.
We have now been informed by Daniel Carr that he would be waiving the fees for the engraving and sculpting fees as a gift to KOTCT. So now we have a $1,050 gift or extra on hand. A Knight has requested we offer each and ever member who ordered SILVER MEDALLIONS a refund based on the actual cost of getting them made.
So, at this time, I am asking everyone who ordered a SILVER MEDALLION(S) to email me personally to request your refund. I am chosing to offer these refunds in this manner to avoid any embarrassment or hesitation on our members part. You have a choice to REQUEST the refund at this time or to REFUSE the refund. If you refuse the refund at this time the money will be held in the KOTCT Royal Treasury for use in the 2009 Medallion Quest or as the membership determines at a later date. I need to hear from every one of you who ordered silver medallions NOW!
Based on quanities and costs for each medallion we will offer the refunds as follows;
ONE silver medallion.....................$10.00 refund
Two silver medallions or more.........$17.50 per medallion
I can send out the refunds to U.S. members by PayPal or mail a personal check after depositing the funds in my checking account. Please keep in mind PayPal will charge fees.
Non U.S. members must receive their refund by PayPal to the address in which they made the payment. Many Aussies used Nevol as their method so I would be sending the payments back to her. Also keep in mind PayPal charges a fee.
I know no other way, at this time, to make this more fair as our intentions were NOT to make a huge sum of money on any of our quest, whether it be medallions, woodies or something else down the road. Our only needs are funds or donations to keep this forum up and running and our domain names properly registered and owned by us. From time to time we will offer special awards (we are behind here) which will come out of our KOTCT Royal Treasury.
