100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens predictions?

ipmman

With the 100 Top American medals and Tokens book soon to be released, please give your predictions for (at least) the top 10

1) Washington before Boston Medal
2) Libertas Americana Medal
3) Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal
4) Ricketts Circus Token
5) Engraved Washington Indian Peace Medal
6) Benjamin Franklin Terra Cotta Nini Medallion
7) United States Diplomatic Medal
8) Teddy Roosevelt St. Gaudens Inauguration Medal
9) John Paul Jones Naval Medal
10) Lincoln Salvator Patriae ANS Medal

Next 10:

11) Hunting Dogs/Lincoln Redeemed Civil War Token
12) John Jacob Astor Peace Medal
13) Fortress Louisbourg Taken Medal
14) Thomas Jefferson Inauguration Medal
15) Fidelity / Vincit Amor Patriae Repousse'
16) Tie: Horatio Gates; Anthony Wayne; Daniel Morgan & Nathaniel Green Comitia Americana Medals
17) Zachary Taylor Buena Vista Gold Medal (and I distinguish only the gold medal as belonging at this spot)
18) Germantown Medal
19) Motherhood Circle of Friends Medal by Victor David Brenner
20) Tie: William Washington; John Eager Howard; John Stewart; Henry Lee & De Fleury Comitia Americana Medals

Other top possibilities in no particular order:

Society of Medalists Hunter & Dog by Laura Gardin Fraser
Society of Medalists Dionysus by Paul Manship
Circle of Friends New Netherlands 250th Anniversary by Paul Manship
Kittaning Destroyed
Lion and Wolf Indian Peace Medal
Montreal Indian Peace Medal
Undated George III Indian Peace Medal
John F. Kennedy Inauguration Medal
1867 Assay Commission Medal
1876 Assay Commission Medal
Erie Canal Completion Medal
1826 Semi Centennial Medal
Lincoln Presidential Medal (PR-12)
Lincoln Indian Peace Medal
George I Indian Peace Medal
George II Indian Peace Medal (Duffield)
1670 British Colonialization Medal

It took a long time to come up with this list. It must have been a tough undertaking for the authors. I weighed historical significance first, then value, then association with medal series. Also, I am not a token collector, so may have missed important tokens. I also did not include political tokens as I am aware of so many, and it is hard to place them in any order of importance, at least for me it is. I havent collected political tokens in over 10 years, and forgot most of what I knew about them.

I feel strongly only about the top 8, though the Ricketts Circus Token may not be as high as no. 4, but I would bet odds it is somewhere in the top 10 (and should be). I put the John Paul Jones as No. 9, and think it deserves the high spot, but suspect it will be lower. (OK, I admit I own 2 Paris Mint originals!) There is also a medal for the French navy supporting the American Cause which should be high, but I forgot the name of the medal. #13, #18, and the Kittaning Destroyed medal to me are sort of tied, but I decided to seperate them in the order I would place them. There are so many Military and Naval medals, it is hard to put them in any order, all are beautiful and historic, but I clearly think the Revolutionary Comitia Americana medals rank highest. Historically, the Taylor Buena Vista Medal is overshadowed by many of the medals listed here, but it's huge auction price cannot be ignored, so it may be in the top 10 or even the top 3 in the book. I am betting the Libertas being the cover Medal is done for aesthetics, there is no American medal more important than the Washington Before Boston Gold medal, period. If the Washington/lafayette Society of Cicinnati sells for 10 million at Sothebys, the WBB Gold would be worth twice that, though the truth is it is priceless. Lastly, I am not sure how deep the authors go into early Betts Medals, so I didn't include many significant ones, since to me they would knock off almost all of the medals on this list!

Truth is, I am most interested in what others think, thus the posting.

jonathanb

I don't have problems with any specific item on your list, but I agree that you weighted it toward historical significance. I hope indian peace medals take up less than 20% of the final list, and that Julian-listed US Mint medals take up less than 30% of the final list. Some, sure. But I'm hoping to see plenty of pieces that haven't been covered to death in other publications. There are lots of gorgeous pieces with historical significance that you hardly ever see mentioned...

MadMarty

I would have to put my vote in for the HK-222 or the E-101. It's a design that everyone likes! Not rare, but always a great seller.

Zoins

I believe the Libertas Americana and Washington Before Boston are both Monnaie de Paris pieces and Made in France.

I believe the WCE SCD medal is Made in Germany.

Do the 100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens have to be Made in the USA or not?

For me, an important aspect of the Greatest American Medals would be that they have been awarded to individuals for service to the country, not sold to collectors. I haven't made a decision on whether I think a medal has to be Made in the USA to be considered one of the Greatest American Medals.

I haven't thought about the Greatest American Tokens too much.

keets

there would need to be some type of Qualification prior to making a list. is it most Historically Significant, most Numismatically Significant, most Beautiful Design, most Well Known, etc.

Coinosaurus

I will be quite surprised if the Libertas is not the number one piece. Somewhere I read they are putting a big color picture of it on the front cover.

ipmman

The list isn't my list of "Greatest".

Just a prediction, guessing what the list will be on the upcoming book by QDB. "100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens". I understand it comes out in early October, at the Atlanta show.

Since the Libertas Americana Medal is featured on the cover, it is obvious that Paris Mint strikes are included. It isn't a huge stretch that Libertas is included, I'm just guessing it will be number 2. The cover picture with Libertas is shown at the Stacks Web site.

So please gve us your predictions.

Dentuck

The book also features an appendix of "Honorable Mentions" --- nos. 101 through 200 from the voting.

tmot99

<< <i>I believe the WCE SCD medal is Made in Germany. >>



Close, but not quite. It was designed by Wilhelm Mayer in Germany, but I heard they were minted in France.

They were planning to have elongates from the WCE as one of the items. A few of my elongates are supposed to be in the book.