1781 “British Resentment” Medal. Betts-584. Silver. MS-62 (PCGS).

54.1 mm. 685.2 grains. Plain edge, collar mark at 6:00. A distinctive medal in the Betts series, unusual for its size, its enigmatic designs, and its die work, which appears Continental despite the fact that it depicts the British monarch. Violet, pale blue, and gold tones dominant the lustrous and somewhat reflective light silver gray fields. Sharp and attractive, with scattered evidence of handling but no individually serious marks. The obverse shows some trivial hairlines, while the reverse shows an abundance of lint marks all over that side, evidence that the dies were being cleaned and polished regularly (and thus marking this as a medal that was intended for a sophisticated collector class and not a more plebeian consumer audience). A substantial raised die break is seen at the central reverse on the body of the finely executed lion. This is a difficult medal to interpret. It is clearly not of English manufacture, a fact agreed upon by all authorities (cinched by the obverse, which refers to King George as not only King George, but King George of England). Its die work is Continental and most resembles work done in this era in Germany. The reverse shows a struggling lion, bound in rope, and seemingly trying to free himself, with a legend that translates to "cannot be trained to submit" (according to Betts) or "never taught to submit" (according to Brown). The exergue gives a date of 1781 with the inscription "in perpetual memory" in Latin. Brown's suggestion that this may be a reference to the League of Armed Neutrality is a good one, a pro-English sentiment that though England has had some bounds placed upon it by the League, it is overcoming them. The implication could also be anti-English, that England is receiving its just desserts after years of bullying sea-bound commerce. This example is the only one John Ford ever had the chance to buy, a testimony to its rarity. Ford lacked this Betts number until he bought this specimen in the 2001 LaRiviere sale for $9,500 hammer. When it resold just five years later, it hammered at $32,500. Only one has been offered since to our knowledge, a copper specimen from the John W. Adams Collection sold in 2015.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Almanzar's sale of June 1973, lot 4640; our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the Lucien LaRiviere Collection, May 21, 2001, lot 1087; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIV, May 2006, lot 245.