1776 (1783) AE Medal Betts-615, Libertas Americana, RB MS62RB 认证号29806284, PCGS号528764

Though bearing the evidence of its share of handling over the centuries, this particular specimen of the Libertas Americana medal is the single earliest example struck in Bronze that this researcher has found. The obverse plainly displays multiple strikings from the dies -- with offsets between strikes -- and yet there is very little evidence of the extensive die damage that is displayed on the vast majority of the Bronze Medals. In addition to the earliest die state specimen of the Libertas Medal (and Red Brown!), the collection includes a fantastically preserved specimen, gem MS65 Bronze example of the Libertas Americana Medal that is the finest seen by this researcher. Its die state places it near the middle of the production period, with considerable die damage now visible in comparison to the early die state silver and bronze medals in the Collection, yet not so advanced as the very latest die state examples.

Ron Guth

The Libertas Americana medal is one of the most famous and cherished of all the medals relating to American history.  According to the historical record, the brainchild for the medal and its designs was none other than Benjamin Franklin.  In a March 1782 letter to Robert Livingston, U.S. Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Franklin wrote, "This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to strike ... representing the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents; and France by that of Minerva, sitting by as his nurse, with her spear and helmet, and her robe specked by a few 'fleurs-de-lis." (quoted in Joseph Loubat's The Medallic History of the United States of America).  Clearly, the final design is a bit more aggressive than Franklin's suggestion, but one gets the point nonetheless. 

The obverse of the medal shows a head of Liberty with flowing hair, facing right, a freedman's cap atop a pole in the background.  This model served as the inspiration for some of the U.S. Pattern coinage of 1792 and for the first U.S. Half Cents in 1793.