Military Medals

"1814" Major General Peter B. Porter / Brigadier General Eleazer W. Ripley Medal Muling. By Moritz Furst. Julian MI-18 (obverse) / Julian MI-19 (reverse). Bronze. MS-64 BN (NGC).

65 mm. This is an attractive, intriguing and presumably rare medal muling whose production probably dates to 1840 to 1860. Both sides are modestly reflective in the fields, the obverse with autumn-brown patina and the reverse dressed in a bolder blend of olive-brown and champagne-apricot. There are none but a few extremely minor blemishes scattered about to preclude an even higher grade. Multi-struck on the reverse, evidence of which is most pronounced on the inscriptions below the exergual line. An apparently unlisted muling, the obverse is the die ordinarily associated with the Major General Peter B. Porter medal, Julian MI-18, while the reverse is that ordinarily associated with Brigadier General Eleazer W. Ripley's medal, Julian MI-19. The muling, however, is a logical one in that both officers participated in the battles of Chippewa, Niagara and Fort Erie during the War of 1812, so any medal commemorating those three battles would be appropriate for either. Additionally, such mulings, while rare in an absolute sense, and perhaps less so than one might expect given their unlisted status. In fact, we sold the counterpart to this muling (Julian MI-19 obverse / Julian MI-18 reverse) in our May 2019 Baltimore Auction, lot 3019. For the specialist collector of U.S. Mint medals, this is clearly a desirable piece.

Estimate: 500