(1781) MEDAL Libertas Americana Silver AU50 PCGS. Betts-615, Loubat-14....

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(1781) Libertas Americana Silver Medal, AU50
Betts-615, Rare and Desirable

(1781) MEDAL Libertas Americana Silver AU50 PCGS. Betts-615, Loubat-14. As stated by C. Wyllys Betts in American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals, published in 1894, "The Libertas Americana, the dies of which were cut by Dupré, is universally considered by far the most beautiful of all medals. Its spirited head of Liberty was imitated on some of the earliest coins of the new nation." Benjamin Franklin provided the inspiration, political lobbying, and the legwork to make the Libertas Americana medal a reality. In a letter from Franklin dated March 4, 1782 to Robert Livingston, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he wrote:

'"This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to strike since the late great event you gave me an account of, representing the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents; and France by that of Minerva, sitting by as his nurse, with her spear and helmet, and her robe specked with a few 'fleurs-de-lis.' The extinguishing of two entire armies in one war is what has rarely happened, and it gives a presage of the future force of our growing empire ... ."

The original Libertas Americana medals were struck at the Paris Mint. This is one of the famously rare silver originals, lightly toned in gold, electric-blue, deep violet, orange, and mint-green hues. The high points exhibit nominal wear, plus a few light marks in the open, vulnerable fields as expected at the grade level. Page 90 of the 2014 Guide Book lists the number of survivors in silver as "24+ known."
Ex: Bill Weber Collection (Superior, 6/2002), lot 2228; Early American History Auctions (10/2003), lot 1061; The Marlor Collection (Heritage, 1/2014), lot 5104.
From The Poulos Family Collection, Part II.

Coin Index Numbers: (PCGS# 151000, Greysheet# 200005)

View all of [The Poulos Family Collection, Part II ]

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