Two Comitia Americana medals for Daniel Morgan, one from Paris, the other from Philadelphia
BillJones
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The Comitia Americana (American committee) medals were a series of pieces that were awarded to heroes of the American Revolutionary War. All but one of the medals was made by the French in Paris.
One of the most beautiful of the medals was awarded to General Daniel Morgan for his victory at the Battle of the Cowpens on January 17, 1781. Augustin Dupré designed the piece. Dupré is better known for his most popular creation, the Libertas Americana Medal.
The dies for the original Morgan medal were made in Paris and gold medal for Morgan was struck from them. There were also a very small number of pieces made in silver and copper. Today there are three known examples in silver (One of which is in the Massachusetts Historical Society collection as part of the set that Thomas Jefferson brought back with him when he returned from Paris.) and seven copper pieces are known.
The gold medal was passed down through members of the Morgan family until it was stolen and never recovered from a Pittsburg, Pennsylvania bank. At the request of the Morgan family, Congress passed a law in 1836 that authorized the Federal Government to have a replace made in Paris from a set of copy dies. The silver medal from the Massachusetts Historical Society set was sent to Paris and J.J. Barre made a new set of dies. Barre’s copy was so close that it is very difficult to tell the difference between the original medals and the new ones.
Here is a medal made in Paris from the Barre copy. This piece is scarce.
Here is a 19th century “mahogany finish” example that was stuck at the Philadelphia Mint.
The reason that I have this second piece is that I found it at an EAC convention many years ago at a most reasonable price.
Comments
I have always loved this design
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Excellent post
Great one. Morgan's victory at Cowpens showed that he was a brilliant strategist. His defeat of Tarleton probably turned the tide of the revolution. Great history in that piece.
Nice medals!
Interesting the so much work went into the design, yet someone mutilated the obverse and reverse captions. I cannot believe Dupre did the punching of these.
Yes, Morgan was one of the great heroes of the Revolution. His Virginia sharpshooters used asymmetrical warfare and superior weapons to defeat a greater British force at Saratoga (1777). This halted the British effort to divide the Northern and Southern colonies by controlling the Hudson River.
Fortunately, there are nice quality, inexpensive, restrikes available for many of the medals from this series, so that everyone can own one. They are wonderful for their historical significance.
The copy dies were at the Philadelphia Mint before October 1843, a copper (bronzed) copy cost $2.00. Fine gold 2-1/2-inch was $170 and silver 2-1/2-inch was $8.00 [NARA E-1 1842-1843 Box 22]
The medals reflect Dupre's design, but he didn't have anything to do with the dies that were used to strike these medals. Dupre’s original dies were lost, and these were completely new. Perhaps J.J. Barre turned over the lettering part to an apprentice.
Morgan had a terrible case of rheumatism that largely incapacitated him. After the Battle of the Cowpens, he retired from the war.
I understand that he took a sabbatical from the war after Saratoga because he couldn’t stand reporting to Horacio Gates. Gates fancied himself as Washington’s superior and had a cabal in the Continental Congress who supported him.
After the Battle of Camden, Gate’s true military abilities came to light, and he was done for the duration of the war. If the truth be known, we may not have won at Saratoga had it not been for Benedict Arnold! Gates got a nice medal (shown below) for Saratoga, and Arnold got nothing but a bad leg wound. That signaled the beginning of Arnold's defection to the British.
The Gates medal is one of the easiest to find as a 19th century strike that was made from the original die pair.
I have a gilt example of the Morgan from the Barre dies. Presumably gilt in Philadelphia.
Like the gold Eckfeldt medal, the gold example of the (originial) Morgan may eventually surface.
I have my doubts that it will surface. It is more than likely that the thieves melted it for its gold content soon after they stole it. In the early part of the 19th century when it was stolen, coin and medal collecting had very few adherents, and their chances of fencing the item were long. This metal was quite large and probably contained several ounces of gold. It was much quicker and easier to melt it to get the value out of it.
@BillJones ... Those are beautiful medals with intricate artwork.... Thanks for showing them and the related history. Cheers, RickO
2-1/2- inch gold medals contained approx $160 in metal.
Which in the 1820s was several months' income at least.