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Have other Henry Lee medals been located, or is the piece unique?
Longacre
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I was reading Julian's Medals book last night, and he made reference to the Henry Lee medal. If I recall correctly, I believe the book said that it was never minted. I did a quick search online this morning, and I saw this from teh Princeton University site. Is this the same Henry Lee medal? Is it safe to assume that this piece is unique?
Here is the information from the website:
A unique medal from the Revolutionary War has been discovered in the collection of Princeton University’s library and was put on public display for the first time on November 13, 2005. The medal was authorized by the Continental Congress for Henry Lee (popularly known as Light-Horse Harry) for the Battle of Paulus Hook in 1779, but through a series of mishaps was not made or awarded until many years later. The medal disappeared from view early in the nineteenth century and resurfaced in a numismatic auction in 1935, when the Friends of the Princeton University Library purchased it and presented it to the school in honor of Lee, a Princeton University alumnus of the class of 1774.
The medal is hand-engraved on a silver disk about the size of a silver dollar, and encircled in a decorative holder. This is not what was originally intended by the Continental Congress which, on September 22, 1779, voted that Lee be given a gold medal for his heroism in the battle that captured a British encampment in what is now Jersey City. The medal was to have been designed and struck in Paris, along with medals for such other Revolutionary War heroes as George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, and Anthony Wayne. When the other medals were finally received from France almost a decade later, it was discovered that the Lee medal had not been ordered. Lee appealed to Secretary-of-State Thomas Jefferson, who directed the newly established Philadelphia Mint to strike a replacement medal. The equipment of the Mint was inadequate for the task, and the new die, engraved by the Mint’s first Chief Engraver Joseph Wright, broke before the medal could be produced.
The Princeton Lee medal appears to have been intended as a substitute for the failed Philadelphia medal. The technique of hand engraving of a silver base was used for other medals produced in America in this period, such as the medals awarded to the three captors of Major John André and the Indian Peace Medals of the Washington administration. The medal bears the inscription To Henry Lee for Valour & Patriotism on the obverse and Washington & Independence 1775-1783 on the reverse. Documentation of its manufacture and award have not yet been found. The most likely explanation for its appearance in the numismatic market is the circumstance that in 1810, to meet the demands of his creditors and be released from debtor’s prison, Lee was forced to sell all of his possessions.
The medal was sold at the January 25, 1935, auction of Thomas L. Elder, one of the leading American coin dealers of the period, where it brought $100, a large sum for a silver medal at the depths of the Depression. Elder’s catalogue states that the medal had been in a very old American family for many years and came from the South. The Princeton Friends of the Library had the medal suspended from a silver pinback by an orange and black ribbon and put in a custom leather box for presentation to the University President Harold W. Dodds at a banquet at the Plaza Hotel in New York on April 25, 1935. While a description of the presentation was published in the New York Evening Sun, no notice of the new owner reached the numismatic press, and the medal’s whereabouts have been unknown for the past seventy years.
The general history of the Lee medal had long been known to Princeton’s Curator of Numismatics, Alan Stahl, who in 1995 had published a catalogue of medals authorized by the Continental Congress in public collections. He came upon the medal in its presentation box this summer while planning the numismatic display for an exhibition to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Friends of the Library. The piece was not housed with other medals in the library’s numismatic collection, but was in its objects collection, alongside such items as the key to Thomas Jefferson’s wine cellar, a snuff box given to Benjamin Franklin by Louis XVI, and a block of tea certified to be from the Boston Tea Party.
Dr. Stahl admits to having been skeptical at first of the authenticity of the piece and to withholding final judgment on it pending further research. “The main point arguing in its favor,” he notes, “is the price that it fetched at auction by a reputable dealer. The inscription suggests the input of Lee – the obverse proclamation of honor and valor (two qualities he was publicly accused of lacking in the rough-and-tumble politics of the early Republic) and the association with Washington on the reverse (Lee is best known for his funeral oration for Washington which popularized the epithet ‘First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’)”
The medal is on view with other pieces from the University’s Numismatic Collection, including two pewter continental ‘dollars’, large cents from 1793 and 1794, a silver dollar of 1794, the Thomas Jefferson inaugural medal of 1801 and an Indian Peace Medal of James Madison (Princeton class of 1771). Also included are a signed letter of Lee to the New Jersey quartermaster from 1780 and a signed letter of the same year from George Washington to Lee approving Lee’s plan to capture Benedict Arnold. The exhibition opened on November 13 in the Firestone Library’s main exhibit gallery and will be on view through April 23 on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays) and on weekends from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
Here is the information from the website:
A unique medal from the Revolutionary War has been discovered in the collection of Princeton University’s library and was put on public display for the first time on November 13, 2005. The medal was authorized by the Continental Congress for Henry Lee (popularly known as Light-Horse Harry) for the Battle of Paulus Hook in 1779, but through a series of mishaps was not made or awarded until many years later. The medal disappeared from view early in the nineteenth century and resurfaced in a numismatic auction in 1935, when the Friends of the Princeton University Library purchased it and presented it to the school in honor of Lee, a Princeton University alumnus of the class of 1774.
The medal is hand-engraved on a silver disk about the size of a silver dollar, and encircled in a decorative holder. This is not what was originally intended by the Continental Congress which, on September 22, 1779, voted that Lee be given a gold medal for his heroism in the battle that captured a British encampment in what is now Jersey City. The medal was to have been designed and struck in Paris, along with medals for such other Revolutionary War heroes as George Washington, Nathaniel Greene, and Anthony Wayne. When the other medals were finally received from France almost a decade later, it was discovered that the Lee medal had not been ordered. Lee appealed to Secretary-of-State Thomas Jefferson, who directed the newly established Philadelphia Mint to strike a replacement medal. The equipment of the Mint was inadequate for the task, and the new die, engraved by the Mint’s first Chief Engraver Joseph Wright, broke before the medal could be produced.
The Princeton Lee medal appears to have been intended as a substitute for the failed Philadelphia medal. The technique of hand engraving of a silver base was used for other medals produced in America in this period, such as the medals awarded to the three captors of Major John André and the Indian Peace Medals of the Washington administration. The medal bears the inscription To Henry Lee for Valour & Patriotism on the obverse and Washington & Independence 1775-1783 on the reverse. Documentation of its manufacture and award have not yet been found. The most likely explanation for its appearance in the numismatic market is the circumstance that in 1810, to meet the demands of his creditors and be released from debtor’s prison, Lee was forced to sell all of his possessions.
The medal was sold at the January 25, 1935, auction of Thomas L. Elder, one of the leading American coin dealers of the period, where it brought $100, a large sum for a silver medal at the depths of the Depression. Elder’s catalogue states that the medal had been in a very old American family for many years and came from the South. The Princeton Friends of the Library had the medal suspended from a silver pinback by an orange and black ribbon and put in a custom leather box for presentation to the University President Harold W. Dodds at a banquet at the Plaza Hotel in New York on April 25, 1935. While a description of the presentation was published in the New York Evening Sun, no notice of the new owner reached the numismatic press, and the medal’s whereabouts have been unknown for the past seventy years.
The general history of the Lee medal had long been known to Princeton’s Curator of Numismatics, Alan Stahl, who in 1995 had published a catalogue of medals authorized by the Continental Congress in public collections. He came upon the medal in its presentation box this summer while planning the numismatic display for an exhibition to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Friends of the Library. The piece was not housed with other medals in the library’s numismatic collection, but was in its objects collection, alongside such items as the key to Thomas Jefferson’s wine cellar, a snuff box given to Benjamin Franklin by Louis XVI, and a block of tea certified to be from the Boston Tea Party.
Dr. Stahl admits to having been skeptical at first of the authenticity of the piece and to withholding final judgment on it pending further research. “The main point arguing in its favor,” he notes, “is the price that it fetched at auction by a reputable dealer. The inscription suggests the input of Lee – the obverse proclamation of honor and valor (two qualities he was publicly accused of lacking in the rough-and-tumble politics of the early Republic) and the association with Washington on the reverse (Lee is best known for his funeral oration for Washington which popularized the epithet ‘First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.’)”
The medal is on view with other pieces from the University’s Numismatic Collection, including two pewter continental ‘dollars’, large cents from 1793 and 1794, a silver dollar of 1794, the Thomas Jefferson inaugural medal of 1801 and an Indian Peace Medal of James Madison (Princeton class of 1771). Also included are a signed letter of Lee to the New Jersey quartermaster from 1780 and a signed letter of the same year from George Washington to Lee approving Lee’s plan to capture Benedict Arnold. The exhibition opened on November 13 in the Firestone Library’s main exhibit gallery and will be on view through April 23 on weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays) and on weekends from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
Always took candy from strangers
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
Didn't wanna get me no trade
Never want to be like papa
Working for the boss every night and day
--"Happy", by the Rolling Stones (1972)
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Comments
The Lee medal at Princeton has verbiage that seems to be inspired by a piece that was not struck until the early 19th century. There have been some good questions asked about its actual date of origin.
Betts medals, colonial coins, US Mint medals, foreign coins found in early America, and other numismatic Americana
The reference to Joseph Wright's engraving of the Lee medal that was done in the summer of 1792, is partially correct. When talking to Thomas Jefferson, Wright didn't quarantee to quality of the steel, and "his dies broke after they were executed" (TJ citation).
The United States Mint was not in operartion at that point in time.
Just because it sold to a dealer in 1935 doesn't mean it is authentic piece from the early 19th century. There is a similar military medal in silver, just as confusing, which was written up and illustrated in "The Numismatist" March 1935, right after the Elder sale. It is a hand engraved Ringgold Light Infantry medal with an ornate border and a suspension loop at the top, with a date of 1775 stamped in at the bottom. The reverse displays an eagle on a shield, similar to Civil War designs.
Harold Gillingham, who had collected these for 30 years didn't know the background of this particular item.
The Princeton medal needs to be more fully researched. There are various renditions of the Lee medal floating around, and it may not be a unique "replacement" medal approved by Congress, but rather a hand made tribute medal.
As can be found in the Adams/Bentley book "Comitia Americana" p.117, some of these Lee medals were restruck later, after the US Mint created a new die.
I'm sure there is more to this story.
www.brunkauctions.com
So far as the Lee medal is concerned, it MAY have been struck in gold and awarded to him. There are a couple of reasons why I say this. First, Henry Lee was not at all successful later in life. He abandoned his wife and children, which included future Confederate general Robert E. Lee, and left them destitute. This was one of the reasons why Robert E. Lee valued honor and duty so highly.
Second it is possible to get a Henry Lee medal that was struck with the original obverse die. In 2007 expert collector John W. Adams and Massachusetts Historical Society curator, Anne E. Bentley published a book, Comitia Americana and Related Medals - Underappreciated Monuments to Our Heritage. There is was shown that the original obverse die, that was made the Joseph Wright, was used to produce restrike examples of the Lee medal, both a uniface and a piece with new reverse die by William Barber. The obverse die shows many cracks. These pieces are known in bronze and silver. Here is a piece I purchased many years ago.
When I bought this piece I found it odd that the new U.S. mint die produced in the mid 1870s would be cracked from the beginning, like the original die, and sure enough it wasn't. This piece was struck from from the original die by Joseph Wright. The estimated mintages are about a dozen uniface pieces (four of those in silver) and 35 pieces with the new reverse, with a few of those in silver.