1000

Medals: From the Original Dies

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Medals: From the Original Dies
1779 John Paul Jones Medal in Copper, Choice Extremely Fine+. Julian NA-1, Betts 568, 56 mm. Once mounted at 12:00, the mount having been expertly removed. The obverse features a bust right of Jones, after Houdon, a Latin legend around. The reverse shows his converted merchantman, the Bonhomme Richard, her side blasted open by an explosion in her magazine. Lying alongside is the British frigate, Serapis. Struck from the original dies at the Paris mint but without a privy mark. This is an unusual case where the dies for an American medal remained in a foreign country (in the 1790's, America did not possess the technology or equipment to produce large, high relief medals).