A couple of months ago, I acquired an example of the 1801 Thomas Jefferson Inaugural medal in silver. It’s not perfect, but after kicking myself for passing one a decade ago, it’s the best I’m going to do. This piece celebrated the inauguration of Jefferson as the third president of The United States and the 25th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence which Jefferson wrote. The dies for this piece were by John Reich. Reich came to the United States as an indentured servant. Some mint officials paid off his indenture and hired him to make this medal in celebration of Jefferson’s win in the presidential election. I am amazed by the quality of Reich’s work. You must remember than the U.S. Mint was still a fairly primitive operation, but Reich, and those who worked with him, were able to make this piece is fairly high relief. Reich was a talented artist, who deserved a spot on the mint’s staff. It took him eight years to get there, and once there, he never got a raise or a promotion. This second piece is an American classic, the Libertas Americana Medal. This piece was conceived, funded and distributed by Benjamin Franklin. The master, Augustin Depre, made that dies. This piece commemorated the American and French victory over the British in the American Revolution. It was the inspiration for the Liberty Cap cents and half cents. I think that Reich’s work compares favorably with Depre’s. What do you think?
Great medals @johnmilton Fantastic examples of the skill of the engravers, when you think of what they had to work with back then. In my view they are each as good as the other.
I was so disappointed when the mint failed to include the Libertas Americana in the series Americas First Medals.
They are both superior to include the write-up about them. But, if I have to choose it would be Jefferson with me knowing I am partial to Reich. The relief or appearance of relief is outstanding to me. Thanks for posting.
The problem was the Philadelphia Mint never made a copy of the Libertas medal in the 19th century. It also did not produce an example of the John Stuart medal which was awarded to that almost unknown Revolutionary War hero. As a result, it is almost impossible for a collector to get a representative example of that piece in a set of Comitia Americana medals. Those medals were the basis for the America’s First Medals set you mentioned. An example of the John Steward medal brought almost $1 million in the same auction where I bought the Jefferson medal. I estimated that it would sell for $500 thousand, but that guess was way off. I believe that piece is the only John Stuart medal that is in private hands.
Not in the same league as John's, but here are my two lowly contributions minted by England and France in celebration of the ANA's Centennial. Z
These, I couldn't resist. It's just who I am, and having visited Wall Drug in South Dakota recently, well they just made sense. Z
