LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 Feb Long Beach, CA Tokens & Medals #462  / 

81079

Maj Gen W.H. Harrison/Isaac Shelby Mule MS64 NGC

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:450.00 USD Estimated At:680.00 - 1,020.00 USD
Maj Gen W.H. Harrison/Isaac Shelby Mule MS64 NGC
<B>Rare Major General W.H. Harrison/Isaac Shelby Mule, Julian-MI-14/MI-21, MS64 NGC.</B></I> Bronzed copper, 65 mm, 126 gm. Dies by Moritz Furst. The obverse is of Julian-MI-14, Major General William Henry Harrison: bust right, legend around, FURST.F. below. The reverse is of Julian-MI-21, the Governor Isaac Shelby: battle scene, BATTLE OF THE THAMES, OCTO. 5. 1813, RESOLUTION OF CONGRESS APRIL 4. 1814., FURST.F. in exergue. <BR> This is a beautiful and rare muling of these two medals related to the Battle of the Thames. Julian's reference makes no mention of known mulings, although for MI-14 he notes that "the Harrison obverse die, if not the reverse too, lasted until at least the 1880's. A medal in the West Point collection, struck about 1885, shows the letter T in FURST on the obverse to have a small bar across the bottom of the letter." The obverse of the present medal shows that bar at the bottom of the T, and, interestingly, most of the letters in FURST are out of alignment with one another: FU are down, RS are up with R noticeably tilted, T is down, and the following F is considerably higher.<BR> Was this medal produced during the free-wheeling 1860s-1870s era when Mint personnel were known to obligingly produce "trade bait" for unspecified (and mostly unrecorded) goodies? The cataloger in the Ford sale of a similar mule, Choice Uncirculated, (Part VII, 1/2005, lot 375) writes "<B>Fairly rare:</B></I> these mules made for partisans and collectors do not come up very often. The one in Kessler-Spangenberger, for example, went from there into David Dreyfuss' collection and was bought for Ambassador Middendorf at the Dreyfuss sale. There was another in Presidential Coin & Antique Company's sale of October, 2000."<BR> The cataloger in Kessler-Spangenberger, however, offers a slightly different take on how this medal came to be: "Early state of both dies--could Harrison, as President in 1841, have finally been in a position to force the Mint to strike his medal with a battle scene reverse?" That Choice AU piece (NASCA, 4/1981, lot 1663) brought $375 against a $100 estimate!<BR> This example, also appearing to be from the original dies in an early state, boasts premium surfaces that are a consistent milk-chocolate color, with generous dashes of mint red and prooflikeness in evidence. Trivial carbon flecks fail to distract from either the desirability or rarity of this Choice piece. Comes with an NGC Photo Certificate.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Coins & Currency (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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