Longtime murderous Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife were executed after a short trial in December 25, 1989, which was only a few months after the Berlin Wall fell -- and former Warsaw Pact countries were insisting on independence. The animosity and fury of the Romanian people against the Ceausescus inevitably turned that revolution into a violent one. In the wake of the execution, the people ransacked various government buildings and the Ceausescu home in Bucharest.
I arrived as a well-known journalist on a reporting trip on September 17, 1990, about nine months after that event. Through my own connections, I was allowed to visit that home with a new government official. The dictator's safe was open and a few items were still in it, including this commemorative medal. It had not been taken for two reasons -- it was not gold, which would have given it serious value and, second, no self-respecting Romanian would have wanted in his possession a medal commemorating the much-loathed late dictator. The official I was with had no problem giving it to me in return for a carton of Kent cigarettes, which was more valuable in Bucharest than, say, a couple hundred dollars at that point.
I do not know the metal of which this medal is made, but it is not plastic. It has weight -- 6 1/2 ounces -- and is three inches across in diameter. I am positive it is the only medal of its kind in the world found in the such a unique place -- the safe of a man who was fleeing for his life from his people's revolution.
If requested, I will be glad to provide a notarized affidavit regarding the provenance of this medal. Any buyer can check into my own career -- Dale Van Atta -- in Wikipedia and many other sources.