1779 Benjamin Franklin Portrait Medallion. Bare Head Left; Latin Legend. By Jean-Baptiste Nini. Margolis-24, Greenslet GM-7, for type, Betts-Unlisted. Terracotta. Choice About Uncirculated.

165 mm; approximately 10.8 mm at the edge. 528 grams. Obverse in high relief, with Latin legend around, ERIPUIT COELO FULMEN SCEPTRUMQUE TIRANNIS, divided by complex stops of hands holding lightning rods and bolts emerging from clouds, separate in two places, in concert in four positions. Signed and dated in Arabic numerals on the truncation, I B NINI 1778, at left, with coat of arms on the right truncation. Signed and dated in Arabic numerals again beneath the truncation, NINI F 1779. All details strong in definition, with only the incuse truncation date and signature a little softer. Plain, somewhat tapered edge, and a plain reverse with the usual suspension hole opening at the upper reverse and on the edge above. The obverse is lovely and mostly uniform light brown terracotta with only minor color variations in the fields left of the portrait and in subtle mottling on the neck. Only minor handling is evident, though trivial edge chips that can be easily written off as meaningless are noted. Four old mounting marks are evident on the reverse, this having clearly been firmly affixed to some backing long ago. Old pencil notations include "Franklin" and what could be "Passy," though this is obscured and uncertain. A faded paper sticker remains at the upper center, while a rubber ink stamp at the lower center reads, "LIBRAIRIE PAPETERIE / MADAME HAMON / RUE DENIS PAPIN / BLOIS" and probably identifies a one-time seller or owner of this historic decorative item. Though the Margolis survey of Nini works includes a somewhat substantial list of observed specimens, the grand module plaques of Franklin of this type (or any other) are rarely seen. Many of those cited by Margolis in 2015 were in museum holdings and likely remain so. Those include examples at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Blois (near where this was once found), the Château de Chaumont, British Museum, Harvard Art Museum, Yale Art Gallery, and U.S. State Department Diplomatic Reception Rooms, among others. Our online archives include only a single example of this impressive medallion, sold in our January 2005 Americana Sale for just shy of $10,000.

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From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier ex Dr. Richard Lasser, October 2002; Anthony Terranova in November 2013.