1789 AR Medal Breen-1079 Zespedes Florida MS(PCGS#921204)

August 2023 Global Showcase Auction U.S. Coins

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

8138

等级

VF Details

价格

96,119

详细说明

Rare Copper 1789 Florida Proclamation Medal of Carlos IV Dug in Virginia 1789 Zespedes Florida Proclamation Medal or Four Reales. Herrera-133, Medina-148, Breen-1080. Copper, 34.7 mm x 34.2 mm. VF Details--Environmental Damage (PCGS). 286.9 grains. Struck on a cast planchet. 2.0 to 2.4 mm thick. Acquired by Syd in its only previous auction appearance, in our sale of August 2012, where it was described as follows: A dug find, with surfaces like a Roman coin, granular dark steel brown with lighter encrustation and a hint of greenish scale. The rims are rounded, not in any way resembling that of a cast piece, neither showing the typical squared-off shape nor any sign of file marks. The unstruck area outside the die edge from 9 o'clock to 2 o'clock on the obverse, and along the right side of the reverse is of similar size and texture as the rims of the Wayte Raymond example (NASCA June 26-29, 1978, lot 3644). The slightly ovoid shape is slightly bigger than the measured dimensions of the Raymond piece, described as "33 x 34 mm." It is also a bit larger than the bronze piece in the 1990 Bowers and Merena Boyd, Brand, and Ryder sale, described as 34.1 x 33.9 mm (though a typo rendered it 23.9 in the catalog). Among silver specimens, the January 1996 Bowers and Merena piece is a bit smaller (32.1 x 33.3 mm), as was the Ford specimen (32.9 mm). Though much of the fine detail of this piece is lost to surface corrosion, we have no doubt about its authenticity or its status as a struck specimen. A softness to the lower right of the stylized flower at central reverse echoes a similarly bulged area on the Raymond copper piece, indicative of the die state. This reverse die is the same die used on the ANS bronze piece (earlier die state) and the Raymond-NASCA piece (similar die state). The obverse also appears to be identical to that used on other known specimens. John W. Adams, in an article in the Medal Collectors of America magazine "The Medal Cabinet" in Summer 2000, lists three bronze pieces, and unfairly condemns all of them as casts, including the 1990 B+M piece that was called struck by Mike Hodder with the benefit of in-hand examination and the Raymond specimen which was ably described by Carl Carlson, including a careful examination and assertion that it was struck as well. Based upon those expert opinions, in-hand examination of this piece, and excellent photographs of the ANS specimen, it looks to us that all of these bronzes are struck, not cast, and every bit as "original" as the struck silver piece in Ford that sold for $230,000. Found by a metal detectorist who was relic-hunting on private property in Culpeper County, Virginia, this piece was found in a most unusual context: a Civil War camp occupied by Florida-based troops. The finder reports hundreds of Confederate bullets and hundreds of buttons, including "at least two Florida buttons found in the area [though] most of the buttons found were South Carolina state seals and a few Confederate local Central Government buttons." In an era when large cents still circulated, it is not unusual that a piece like this may have still been circulating in Florida, though it may also have been a patriotic Floridian's lucky piece as well. In terms of condition, this is the lowest grade of the four bronze specimens. In terms of history, it is perhaps the richest. Struck in the future United States in 1789 to mark the rise of Carlos IV to the throne of Spain and distributed in Florida, this piece undoubtedly had an unusual voyage before being interred in the soil of central Virginia in the fall of 1863. It is undamaged, unholed, and appealing in its rusticity. Rarer than just about any classic early American type you can name (tied with silver 1776 Continental dollars, for instance), a bronze 1789 Manuel de Zespedes proclamation medal allows an advanced collector of early Americana to represent a cultural heritage far too often forgotten when recounting the history of 18th century America. Since this piece sold, another copper piece appeared in the April 2021 Partrick sale, graded VF-25 (NGC). That piece, also once condemned as cast, is clearly double struck and produced using the same production method as this one. Provenance: From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from our ANA sale of August 2012, lot 11165. To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click here. PCGS# 921204. 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.