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24 February 2011

Gold for Fischer - Spassky

Fischer memorabilia generally sells well, even more so after the 11th World Champion died in 2008, but only rarely does an item appear in Top eBay Chess Items by Price. The item pictured below, titled 'Iceland 1972 Fischer-Spassky - World Chess - GOLD COIN' was an exception, most likely because of the price of gold rather than for the coin itself. It sold for US $850.00 at 'Best Offer'.


The description said,

For sale is this Icelandic Official 1972 world chess championship gold coin - Made by the Icelandic chess federation - The medal weighs 22 grams of 22 karat gold.

Since 22 karat gold is 91.6% pure and the price of gold is updated constantly ($1413 per ounce as I write this), the intrinsic value of the coin can be calculated exactly. At about the same time this coin was on offer, the seller had another auction.

For sale is this Icelandic Official 1972 world chess championship medal set - Made by the Icelandic chess federation - There are three medals in this set made out of gold, silver and bronz. The gold medal is 22 karat and weighs 20 grams - Silver medal is Sterling silver and weighs 20 grams - Bronz weighs at 20 grams as well.

Each coin in the set had a map of Iceland on one side and a pair of Knights on the other. The set sold for $995.00, also 'Best Offer'. I wonder how much these items sold for at the time of the 1972 match.

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4 comments:

  1. Christopher Hagedorn18 September, 2015 16:46

    Hey, thanks a lot of this blog post! I was unable to find the purity of these medals anywhere else. I work at a coin shop and we recently had one of these gold 1972 medals come in. It was difficult to price properly without testing the purity. Glad I could find the info online. Cheers!

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  2. Unknown08 December, 2017 21:51

    I found a set containing the 3 medals , gold , silver and bronze, they are priced at 950 euro for the set, is that a good price ? Thanks

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  3. Unknown15 September, 2018 21:41


    I think it is since they are difficult to find in complete sets they were also limited edition, I think a lot of these were melted down for gold, so very few are available on the market.

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  4. de Oldphart29 March, 2024 18:53

    Just found this thread while wondering what my medal is worth. I have a single gold medal, No. 80 of 1700, with small certificate in a blue case. I received it as a gift from an Icelandic friend and chess enthusiast a few years after the match. Seems like it is worth more for the gold than as chess memorabilia. Bit of a shame, but at the price of gold I'd better be careful with it.

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