"1790" (ca. 1858) AE Medal GW-11, The Manly Medal, BN MS(PCGS#680711)

Winter 2022 U.S. Coins Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

2011

等级

SP64BN

价格

11,017

详细说明

Choice Manly in Bronze Second Obverse “1790” (Circa 1850s) Manly Medal. Second obverse. Musante GW-11, Baker-62B. Bronze. SP-64 BN (PCGS). 49.3 mm. 905.5 grains. A most handsome medal, the obverse being light mahogany brown with faint traces of faded red in the recesses. The reverse is slightly deeper chocolate brown, with a couple of tiny areas of superficial spotting and a small nick at the top of the I in RESIGNED. The eye appeal overall is superb, with glossy surfaces verging on prooflike in the fields. Sharply struck as usual for this reissue, with thick rims. These are unusually even here, and the designs boldly expressed, particularly among the finest details of the Washington portrait, in extremely high relief. The Mason & Co. sale of November 1878 included a note that these were "struck from Lincoln's dies," the English coin dealer. James Manly died in 1795, and according to research by Neil Musante, his will mentioned a single son, who resided in London. The assumption is that these dies were in Manly's estate and transferred to his son upon the elder's passing. While these reissued pieces of English origin are not nearly as prized as the original medals, they are all quite rare, and even in bronze, likely more so than the original 1790 medals. They are also generally better preserved and immensely attractive. As noted in the description of the silver example offered in the previous lot, these were almost certainly sold directly to medal collectors, rather than distributed more broadly to general fans of Washington. As such, they entered collectors' hands directly and were better cared for on the whole. Reissues though they may be, today no serious Washingtoniana collection may be considered complete without one of these, or two, or three! Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex F.C.C. Boyd Estate; John J. Ford, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part II, May 2004, lot 76; Lawrence R. Stack Collection, November 2006. Click here for certification details from PCGS.