(1777) WM Med. Betts-557, Obv Cliche Horatio Gates at Saratoga MS(PCGS#825363)

The Summer 2022 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

1010

等级

MS63

价格

49,642

详细说明

Important 1777 Gates at Saratoga Obverse Splasher Only the Fifth Specimen Confirmed A Newcomer to the Census Undated (1777) Horatio Gates at Saratoga Obverse Cliche. Original Striking. Workshop of Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux. Adams-Bentley 4, Betts-557, Julian MI-2. Tin. MS-63 (PCGS). 55 mm. Plain edge. Paper backed, although little fiber remains, many areas showing bare metal. Produced before the delivery of the gold medal in May 1787, this is among the earliest surviving impressions of Gatteaux's Gates obverse. This is an exceptionally well made and preserved specimen, the impression sharply executed with all design features fully rendered and crisp. Even pewter-gray color to the obverse, the surface is satiny in texture and generally smooth. Minor marks at the left and right borders are easily overlooked, more noticeable are shallow marks at the back of Gates' cheek and in the upper field between the top of his head and the letter D in DUCI. This die had not yet been polished enough to create the separation of Gates' external (our left, his right) lapel, indicating the early origin of this impression. This is only the fifth Gates obverse splasher of which we are aware, only three of which are in private hands, as follows: 1 - PCGS MS-63. The present example. Prior provenance unknown, but perhaps offered in Godefroy Mayer's fixed price list of 1913, lot 355. 2 - PCGS MS-62. Ex Harry Forman to John J. Ford, Jr., November 4, 1967; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIV, May 2006, lot 196; our sale of the Dorchester Heights Collection, August 2012 Philadelphia ANA Auction, lot 4075; our sale of the John W. Adams Collection, November 2009 Baltimore Auction, lot 2009. 3 - Extremely Fine. Ex Richard Margolis, privately to the following, January 2010; our sale of the John W. Adams Collection, November 2009 Baltimore Auction, lot 2010. The other two specimens are impounded in French museum collections, one at the Musée Carnavalet and the other at the museum of Montauban (which also has a reverse cliche). While we know of no provenance prior to the present piece's consignment to this sale, it is suggestive that the sole historic appearance of a lone obverse cliche of the Gates medal we've recorded comes from the too-little-known fixed price list issued in 1913 by Godefroy Mayer of Paris. Entitled "Old Paintings, Drawings, Miniatures, Statuettes, Busts, Snuff Boxes, Bonbonnieres, Medallions, Medals, and Other Objects of Art Related to America," Mayer's offering was extraordinary: silver original strikes of Howard and William Washington, splashers of Gates and Morgan, a uniface Dupre Franklin medal in bronze, along with five (!) cliches of the Libertas Americana medal and a set of large plasters representing the central device of each side. We tentatively assigned the Mayer provenance to the secondary Adams Collection specimen (lot 2010) in our November 2019 cataloging, although given the European source of this PCGS MS-63 specimen, a stronger argument can be made for it being the piece offered by Mayer in 1913 as lot 355. It is, in any event, a newcomer to the census of Gates obverse splashers that is making its first auction appearance in the modern U.S. market. Our November 2019 cataloging of the John W. Adams Collection included this extensive "Note On Trials: Clichés, Épreuves, and Splashers," which we reproduce here, with slight modifications, for the benefit of current bidders: The Adams Collection of Comitia Americana and related medals was uniquely enriched by several specimens of a unique form of medallic production that is known by several different names. Typically struck from a die in its earliest state, usually before hardening, these trials were called épreuves -- proofs -- in the original French correspondence between Dupre and Duvivier and the Founding Fathers charged with the acquisition of the medals the Continental Congress authorized. In more modern numismatic literature, they are more often called clichés or splashers, the latter term being a fair description of just how these trials were made. Unhardened dies are incredibly susceptible to damage, as 18th century die steel (and modern steel today) is brittle before it is hardened by quenching. Once a die is hardened, modification becomes very difficult, so if changes need to be made, they need to be done in that fragile, unhardened state. Engravers in major mints -- Paris especially -- were accustomed to making soft metal impressions as something of a proofreading copy, enabling the negative die to be viewed in the positive in rough draft form. Wax impressions were liable to leave bits of wax in the interstices of design elements, thus engravers settled upon tin (usually called "white metal" in modern numismatic circles) as the best medium. Tin melts at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, a low enough melting point to be accomplished in any small workshop. A ladle full of molten tin poured onto a surface will cool and harden fairly quickly, but remain soft long enough that a die can be easily pushed into it by hand, leaving a relatively durable impression in medal. Most often, medalists would find a piece of scrap paper -- a note, a newspaper, a book page -- to pour the tin atop, thus preventing their workspace from getting scorched and making the tin sheet somewhat easier to lift and trim. These splashers were not intended to be medals, or even permanent, but simply a temporary way to display the state of the die in the positive before its devices were rendered immovable. Each was personally crafted by the engraver in his shop. In the case of the Comitia Americana medals, the épreuves made by Duvivier, Dupre, and Gatteaux were ultimately intended to be viewed and handled by themselves and those close to the process. Benjamin Franklin reviewed the épreuves of the De Fleury medal between April 20 and May 4, 1780, then made recommendations regarding the lettering in the obverse exergue that were adopted by Duvivier. He later did the same with his Libertas Americana medal, correcting a spelling error on the reverse. Engraver Augustin Dupre retained many of his splashers in his personal collection, some of which found their way into institutions in France and the United States. Thomas Jefferson used clichés as a spendthrift (and lightweight) way to collect all the medals of the Comitia Americana series, assembling a set for himself and another for his Virginia countryman James Madison. As he was preparing to depart Paris in September 1789, he wrote to Madison to let him know of the boxes he was shipping, including a box of books and several crates full of Houdon's John Paul Jones busts that the sitter wanted to have distributed in America. "I have put a collection of the proofs in tin of the medals voted by the U. S. (except two, of which the dies are in America) the medals themselves not being allowed to be taken, I desired the workmen to let me have two sets of their last proofs; for their manner is, as their work proceeds, to make impressions of it in pure tin, in order to correct &c. These proofs are in fact more delicate than the medals themselves, and the last of them shew the impressions complete. I have had them arranged in a frame, under glass &c. & beg your acceptance of them." By "delicate," Jefferson did not mean fragile, but well-detailed. The modern whereabouts of these sets are unknown. Today, clichés of each of the Comitia Americana medals are extremely rare, with populations in the low single digits. There is not a single issue in this format that is known to the extent of eight or 10 pieces. Matched sets of obverse and reverse are the exception rather than the rule. Each of the survivors is an accident, a piece that was made to serve a purpose at a moment in time, not produced for long-term preservation in a cabinet. Their historicity is exceptional, as each survivor was not only in the hands of the medal's engraver, but likely in the hands of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, David Humphreys, or a small number of others. Their rarity surpasses that of their normally struck cognates in nearly every circumstance. Click here for certification details from PCGS. Image with the PCGS TrueView logo is obtained from and is subject to a license agreement with Collectors Universe, Inc. and its divisions PCGS and PSA.