1824 Medalet GW-Unlisted Silver Washington-Lafayette MS(PCGS#808301)

November 2020 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

4340

等级

AU Details

价格

26,753

详细说明

Extremely Rare 1824 Lafayette Visit Medalet The Second We Have Seen 1824 Washington and Lafayette medalet. Musante GW-Unlisted, Baker-Unlisted. Silver. Plain edge. AU Details—Edge Repair (PCGS). 14.1 mm. 32.6 grains. Attractive mottled deep gray surfaces with dusky tones in the recesses of the legends and gold, rose and blue accents on both sides. The surfaces are very nice and the details very crisp, far superior in both respects to the only other one we have ever seen, sold in our November 2019 Baltimore sale. When we cataloged that example, it was the only one known to us. The currently offered piece is somewhat unevenly struck with broad, thick rims around part of each side, and thinner borders in opposition. Old file marks on the rims are probably as made, and gentle filing is noted around the edge as well, with the appearance of a finishing treatment by the maker rather than a later alteration. A small void in the rim at 12:00 on each side is natural and as struck, with uninterrupted flowlines passing into each one from the fields below. This feature was not seen on the other known specimen and must relate to an anomaly in this flan prior to striking. It is clear that this piece was made with an integral suspension loop which is now lost, but the same was true of the other specimen, and that one had completely defined rims. This is the later of the two in terms of emission sequence, as evidenced by a short radial die crack that passes through the first A of LAFAYETTE, a feature that might have expanded rapidly and thus be the reason for the great rarity of this piece today. This is similar in theme and size to the much better known 1824 Washington and Lafayette medalet believed to have been produced by Joseph Lewis, but the portraits are styled much differently. While they are of more compact size, allowing for broader field areas, they are expanded in style to full busts rather than bare head portraits. The legends are also expanded. The Washington side reads .GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON. around, with .1776. below. The Lafayette side reads GENERAL LAFAYETTE. 1776.1789.1824. As noted in our description of the Joseph Lewis piece in an earlier lot, there were at least three engravers who advertised medalets in New York at the time of Lafayette’s visit, Lewis, Robert Lovett, Sr. and James D. Stout. In addition, it was long held that C.C. Wright was the author of the other style. We do not know who made this one, but it was a skilled hand, indeed, and one that seems to have completed only a very scant output of this handsome little commemorative. Provenance: From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. PCGS# 808301.