NEWPS 1781 Libertas Americana Bronze medal. My favorite purchase ever
Justacommeman
Posts: 22,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
I've been chasing the original bronze medal for quite awhile without success. Finally with a heads up from Cardinal I was able to put a deal together with CRO John. I've long coveted this medal in bronze and silver as I simply feel it's the best use of symbolism to represent the period and the birth of a nation. Americana at its finest. The reverse in general speaks a 1000 words. I'm humbled to be able to acquire such a piece of history.
While I've been waiting for the originals I've also been putting together a set of the restrikes in all metals and dates. It's been a fun challenging project
Cardinal got me hooked on this theme and has been there every step of the way in mentoring me. I can't thank him enough. He's been incredible.
I also snatched A silver Restrike a day earlier. I forced Dave Wnuck to sell it to me. It's the way these things happen. Feast or famine.
mark
Bronze original and 80's silver Restrike
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Comments
Easily my favorite medal out there...and that's a beauty...congrats x2!
What a week and what a purchase! A huge congrats to you! WTG!!!
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
Nice, well done.
Very nice pieces indeed!
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Awesome, and the view behind the coins is equally Sweet!
PS, how rare is the silver one?
The 1781 mintage of Bronze Libertas Americana is generally accepted as 125.
The silver mintage was significantly less.
Maybe 30. The PCGS census for 1781 silver is at 12 in all grades. The NGC census is at 7 in all grades.
"Everything is on its way to somewhere. Everything." - George Malley, Phenomenon
http://www.american-legacy-coins.com
Wow, Mark---those are beautiful and rare. Nicely done.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Nice view - and I'm not just talking about the medals!
Those bronze medal has fantastic surfaces. I hope you crack it, or submit it for a new PCGS slab, so that you can better see them in hand.
Wow that's great, congrats and don't knock them off the deck next time you image them.
Latin American Collection
Amazing pieces! I'm a big fan of these and love the detail on your bronze!
For more info on these, here's an older thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/684019/numismatic-treasures-5-1781-libertas-americana-medal
Congratulations, what fantastic medals. Certainly among my favorite issues.
Nice deck! (I also love copper/bronze)
Blown away !!!!!!!!!
Congratulations on the Neat Newps!!!
U.S. Type Set
Isn't there a gold version as well?
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
Indeed there is a gold restrike. This is the one I own.
Cardinal has a cool double holder one which I invite him to post. Never tire of seeing it
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Very nice, except for the tiny shovel, which seems oddly out of place. Like an afterthought, engraved by another , perhaps by last minute request
Liberty: Parent of Science & Industry
Goodness...the gold version is just amazing
Many members on this forum that now it cannot fit in my signature. Please ask for entire list.
Love those!
Congratulations on a pair of beautiful additions.
I love the chocolate brown look of the bronze originals but that's a pretty hunk of gold, too.
Makes one feel downright patriotic.
except for the tiny shovel // cant figure what your talking about ?
Congrats on your purchase! And thanks for the kind words! Not only is your Bronze Libertas Medal a truly awesome Newp, but it is a very, very nice example, head and shoulders above what you would typically see at the MS63 grade level! Like you said, the historical significance of these medals is off the charts, all stemming back to Benjamin Franklin's personal efforts.
The 1980's restrike is scarce in its own right, basically reserved for visitors to the Paris Mint at the time. Undoubtedly, there are more of those "out there," but the typical European visitor to the Mint would not really accord it its due historical respect, and would take no special care in preserving one.
Obviously, your Bronze medal was presented to someone who recognized its importance and preserved it carefully.
Could this one you just acquired have been one of the group Franklin sent to the President of the Continental Congress Elias Boudinot?
In a letter sent to Franklin on November 1, 1783, Boudinot said
"I have received the additional numbers of Medals, which, not having any particular directions from you, I distributed among the Members of Congress, presented one to the Governor of each State, and the Ministers round Congress."
Who would those recipients be? That group would have included Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and John Hancock, among other signers of the Declaration of Independence, future members of the Supreme Court, and future Presidents! What a momentous group of recipients -- a veritable "Who's Who" of Early America!
Again, Congrats on your acquisition!!!
For those interested, PCGS now has a Registry Set dedicated to the Original Libertas Americana medals and related restrikes, which can serve as a checklist of the official restrikes, seen here:
https://pcgs.com/SetRegistry/u-s-coins/medals/libertas-americana-medals/6283
Holy Cow! Warn me next time! Absolutely fabulous niche to collect and truly remarkable pieces. Love the view from the deck, too.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Well...since you asked ---
I need to find another 68
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Those are amazing coins.
Just for completeness, these are out there too --
Congratulations! I, too, love this medal. I have a number of the restrikes that I need to submit to grow my set, and your enthusiasm has re-sparked my drive to do so. Cardinal, thank you for the impetus to add the Libertas to my registry sets.
Bob
Congratulations Mark and damn you for wetting my appetite for new addition to my collection.
Beautiful medals.
If there was one American medal I could own or recommend others to own this original medal would be it. It just oozes history of our country during it's most important time. Great purchases!! Thank you for sharing
Awesome!!
Congrat's!!
Wonderful medals!
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
My best guess is that Baley is referring to the Phrygian Cap on the pole behind Miss Liberty. It is there intentionally, of course.
Such a fun "series" to collect and they can be merged to create lots of other subsets. Anything Franklin, Revolutionary War, Treaties etc.....
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Biggest pricing mistake I ever made was the gem silver original that I flipped to Cardinal for a small profit. It then fetched about $100k more upon resale not long afterwards.
My biggest challenge will be finding one I like that isn't priced as a Aston Martin. There aren't many choices
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
The gem silver original was purchased out of the Bass sale in 1999, and as I recall, it was put up on Legend's site within 6 months afterward, presumably because Legend did not otherwise have a want-list request or other demand for it.
I purchased it, and then included in every display of the Cardinal Collection's Early Dollar Set (still the #1 All-Time Finest set of Early Dollars with Major Varieties and Silver Plugs), all across the country from 2001 through 2005. I convinced PCGS to grade it -- making it the very first medal of any kind to have received a third-party grading opinion from PCGS -- and then it sold in on June 30th, 2005.
Are you saying that grading event, it's appearance in multiple articles about the Cardinal Collection, and it's multi-year cross-country tours as the progenitor of the design for the accompanying Flowing Hair Dollars had nothing to do with its popularity, ensuing demand, and the price appreciation it sustained at auction?
As another data point to consider, after the Bass Specimen sold at auction, Spink America sold the superior Virgil Brand specimen for less than the Bass Specimen -- after it failed to sell at its own auction and saw no demand at all for a long time afterward.
Dunno about any of that - all I know is Blondie called Laura shortly after the sale asking if I'd take a small profit. At first I said no but changed my mind shortly after. I'm pretty sure it was never listed on legends website for sale.
I am not in anyway disparaging the effect that you had on the value of the coin but it was under valued when I bought it and I failed to recognize that fact
Actually, the piece was listed, and I paid the full asking price without argument. It's not like I called Laura up out of the blue and asked, "Do you have any gem Libertas medals you can sell me on the cheap?" I would not have even known of its availability if it hadn't been listed already.
According to Tony Terranova, who attended the sale in June 2005, he was stunned to see the price realized, as in the interim between the Bass sale and the Cardinal sale, he had handled a number of Libertas medals -- both silver and bronze -- and none of those selling prices were even close to the auction price. Tony told me directly after the Cardinal sale was finished, that getting PCGS to grade the Medal and displaying the Medal to an audience of Coin collectors (rather than to an audience of stingy medal collectors, who despise encapsulation and third-party grading) made the difference. He figured those facts were what made the Medal sell for what he thought was 4x what he was otherwise expecting it to sell for.
I totally agree with you, and Tony.
If memory serves, your silver piece was in some sort of Capitol Plastics (or similar) holder accompanied by a PCGS grading cert. When we saw how well yours did at auction, we submitted a gem bronze piece to be graded and were told that yours had been only a 'one-off' and PCGS wasn't grading any others.
So we sent it to NGC, recevied a grading cert from them, consigned it to ANR's March 2006 auction and saw it too bring significantly more than any previous example had in that metal.
From that point on, started by you, it seems that these pieces were firmly in the numismatic mainstream.
Coin Rarities Online
John, you have a great memory, and I remember that Gem Bronze piece!
Actually, I recall who purchased that one from the sale, and I know where it is now!
Yes, the Bass-Cardinal specimen was in a custom-made Capitol Plastic holder that I had designed and ordered. I can't find a picture of it with the PCGS grading cert, but this is how it looked up to that point:
Just incredible. Breathtaking & pretty old school cool in that presentation.
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Damn. Those do not suck. One, any and all of them.
Thanks! The image is 16 years old now, taken with old technology, but you can still zoom in a good bit to see the details.
Gorgeous is all I can say.
This is a great thread...
The Silver Lib's are Proofs ?
Does CAC still sticker Lib's ?
Congrats Mark. Those newps are awesome.
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Yes, you can even "read" the expressions on the faces of France, the British lion, and the infant US. Really amazing medalwork.