1779 Medal Rhode Island, Wreath Below Ship Betts-563 MS(PCGS#576)
1779 Medal Rhode Island, Wreath Below Ship Betts-563 MS (PCGS#576)
October 2018 Baltimore U.S. Coins Auction
- 拍卖行
- Stack's Bowers
- 批号
- 7055
- 等级
- AU58BN
- 价格
- 22,566
- 详细说明
- 1779 Rhode Island Ship medal. Betts-563, W-1740. Brass or pinchbeck. Wreath below ship. AU-58 (PCGS). 205.0 grains. Rich dark chocolate brown with some golden tan undertones and a good deal of frost remaining around devices. Well struck, corrosion free, and free of flaws, this is about as nice a Rhode Island ship medal as anyone could hope for. One little natural planchet bubble is noted near the front mast, harming nothing. Adopted into the U.S. colonial coin series in the 1860s by enterprising coin dealers, this is more properly an American reference medal, struck in an attempt to sway political opinions in the Netherlands away from the American cause and the Treaty of Armed Neutrality. The message was muddled at the time (the word vlugtende or "fleeing" appeared under Howe's flagship, not the vignette of American forces at the Battle of Newport crossing Aquidneck Island), and the Dutch remained both staunchly pro-American and in favor of neutral trade on the high seas. That worked out well for the American cause. This piece will work out similarly well for its next owner. PCGS has certified this piece as copper (PC #576), though we stand by our cataloging as brass (PC #587). Provenance: From the Archangel Collection. Earlier, from Stack’s sale of the David Spence Collection, March 1975, lot 774. PCGS Population: 3; 9 finer. PCGS# 587 Click here for certification details from PCGS.