Henry Lee medal - Revolutionary War collector might like this letter - two others added
RogerB
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Mint of the United States
February 10, 1841
Sir,
The letter to you, of the 6th inst., from C.C. Lee Esq., respecting the medal voted to Major Henry Lee, in 1779, and which you referred to me for information, has been duly received, and I have now to present to you the following statement.
The dies for General Lee’s medal were cut about the year 1791, by J. Wright, an artist who worked at that time for the Mint. The head die is now in our possession, and I send you and impression taken from it in fusible alloy, from which you will see that the bust, though not a superior work of art, is by no means “execrable”. The die, however, is not in a condition for striking a medal in gold, if one should be required. It appears to have cracked in hardening, and to have been also injured in an attempt to make a hub from it. The reverse die is not in existence, and according to the description given by Dr. Mease, contained nothing more than an inscription.
Our former venerable Chief Coiner, Mr. Eckfeldt, to whom we refer for all Mint reminiscences, is under the impression that no gold medal was ever struck from these dies, and the state of the die now before me goes far to confirm this impression.
An original likeness of Col. Henry Lee, taken by C. W. Peale, is now in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum, and its resemblance to the head on the die, is sufficiently apparent. From these authorities a new medal might be prepared, should an appropriation for the purpose be made by Congress.
The plan which I would recommend is to have a medallion head modeled in clay, cast in iron, and then cut in steel by the portrait lathe at the Mint. A medal of Franklin, the obverse die of which was formed by this process, and which I sent you a copy, is, in my judgement, the best ever struck at the Mint.
The appropriation necessary for making, in this way, the gold medal voted to Gen Henry Lee, I estimate at $750, viz: $500 for the dies, and $250 for the gold, collar, case, etc. The appropriation for the medal voted to Col. [George] Croghan, (the last, I think, of this class,) was $2,050, viz; $1800 for the dies, & $250 for the rest. The reverse, indeed, exhibited a battle scene, instead of a simple legend, but it was stipulated that if the reverse die should break an additional charge of $600 should be made.
I return to you Mr. Lee’s letter.
Very respectfully,
Your faithful servant,
R. M. Patterson
Director
Honorable Levi Woodbury
Secretary of the Treasury
Comments
This is great stuff, thanks for sharing.
Very interesting... I wish the cost breakdown was more detailed... Not really necessary, but would be interesting to see the itemization for materials and labor. I would assume the labor to be the larger portion of cost. Cheers, RickO
Based on other medal-related documents (including one posted here a month ago, I think) the gold would have cost $160 and the balance would be for custom case and labor. The 1835 bill for presentation set cases was $7.50 each but I have also seen costs up to $30 for one large gold medal case in this time period.
Here are a couple more letters relating to the Lee medal. These are from E-1, Box 17, April 1836. These have not been transcribed as yet.