1779 Death of Captain Cook Medal. Betts-554. White metal, 38.4 mm. MS-64 (PCGS).

A classic Betts rarity and the undisputed king of the Captain Cook medals. Only three of these have been sold in the last 20 years as far as we know: the LaRiviere specimen in 2001, the Ford specimen (this medal) in 2006, and the Adams specimen in 2014. This may be the best of them, as LaRiviere's Unc was sold raw and the Adams piece was graded EF. Both sides are fully and deeply lustrous, with untoned reflective silver gray surfaces. Only the most trivial scattered marks are seen, and the unusual high relief three-quarter portrait is fully realized and well detailed. Traces of faint blue and gold pastel toning enlivens both sides, and the overall aesthetic appeal is superb, particularly for a white metal piece of this vintage. This is just beautiful. It's also extremely rare and captures a very important historical moment. The diplomacy of conquest that Cook undertook in the South Pacific began in Hawaii with the distribution of medals (the 1772 Resolution and Adventure medal was the very first Western manufactured item ever handed to a South Pacific Islander). This marks the end of Cook's time in Hawaii, and a medal seems the fitting medium to do so. It was clearly not a popular event to commemorate at the time, or else this medal would be much more common. Cook died on Valentine's Day, 1779 at the hands of Hawaiian natives who were infuriated that he and his men had attempted to kidnap their leader in retaliation for the theft of a longboat. Cook was stabbed, one of five Englishmen killed with two more injured. Cook's vessel returned home without his body, and the story of his end became a sensation throughout the English-speaking world. In the 17 years since we sold this example, we have not sold another in any condition. This one is unimprovable.

PCGS# 926040.

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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Fred Baldwin, August 1965; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIV, May 2006, lot 479.