(ca. 1841-1845) Cercle Britannique or Heroes of Liberty Medal. Musante GW-149, Baker-196R. Copper. Edge: CUIVRE and prow. MS-63 (PCGS).
50 mm. A beautiful example of this seemingly under appreciated medal. Glossy mahogany-brown surfaces are uniform except for a couple of small areas of deeper patina against Washington's head. Very attractive, with just a few minor scattered marks to account for the grade. A finely rendered and large medal from a period that produced relatively little in honor of Washington, a bit of a middle ground between the immediate aftermath of his loss and the strong resurgence of a market for his portraits in the 1850s. This is believed to have been conceived by the Cercle Britannique upon the death of Lafayette in 1834. While the Rulau-Fuld reference makes a distinction between originals and "restrikes," we suspect that these were simply made to order by the Paris Mint over a small number of years, and if a particular vintage dictated a Paris Mint privy mark, it was so applied. All seen seem to have a similar appearance, so it is unlike other issues struck in one era and then produced in a second era, a couple of decades later. No meaningful indicator of different die states has been noticed. They are likely all "originals," to be proper. According to Musante, this medal did not appear in the Paris Mint catalogue until 1838, so this one was struck between three and eight years after the first known offering.