1779 Medal Rhode Island, No Wreath Below Ship MS (PCGS#588)
The June 2012 Baltimore Auction
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 1049
- 等级
- MS63
- 价格
- 74,673
- 详细说明
- Mint State 1779 Rhode Island Ship Token
Brass, No Wreath Variety
Undated (Circa 1780) Rhode Island Ship Medal. Betts-562, W-1730. Without Wreath Below Ship. Brass. MS-63 (PCGS). CAC.
Lustrous and brassy deep golden surfaces with lively olive highlights. Minimally marked under low magnification but to no great extent to the unassisted eye. We note some tiny fissures, best seen with a glass, below the ship at the 6 o'clock, trivial in import and mentioned solely for accuracy. An enigmatic "colonial" token -- or medal, take your pick -- for which the jury is still out regarding origin and meaning. A pleasing piece all around.
The island that the soldiers are marching across on this token is identical in shape to Aquidneck Island, as readily seen on a modern-day map of Rhode Island -- this fact was pointed out to the present writer (FVV) by his long-time friend and fellow numismatist, John Kraljevich, a student of -- and expert in -- the coinage and medallic issues of the era. Newport, Rhode Island, the home of Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry's family, is located on Aquidneck Island. In 1824 during his visit to America, the Marquis de Lafayette insisted on visiting Newport to pay his respects to Mrs. Sarah Wallace Alexander Perry, widow of Captain Christopher Perry, an American privateer and father of Oliver Hazard and Matthew Calbraith Perry, who spent time in an English prison during the American Revolution for his high seas activities.
Numismatic Reflections by Q. David Bowers
This is a splendid Rhode Island medal, a “keeper” by any evaluation. This particular medal or coin has been the subject of much discussion in The Colonial Newsletterand elsewhere, including auction catalogs with descriptions by Michael Hodder and others. It is endlessly fascinating that a single numismatic item such as this can furnish the jump-off spot for perhaps an hour or two of interesting investigation -- in printed material as well as on the Internet. Not said in the preceding description by Frank Van Valen is that some years ago Frank was a key person in our presenting for auction various coins and tokens from the Commodore Matthew C. Perry estate. This was a grand event, one that is still remembered by specialists.
PCGS# 588.
PCGS Population: 4; none finer for the variety.
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