Stack's Bowers Galleries

Spring 2024 Auction  –  25 - 28 March 2024

Stack's Bowers Galleries, Spring 2024 Auction

Live Sessions: U.S. Coins and Currency, Physical Cryptocurrency

Part 1: Mo, 25.03.2024, from 3:00 PM UTC
Part 2: Mo, 25.03.2024, from 10:00 PM UTC
Part 3: Tu, 26.03.2024, from 4:00 PM UTC
Part 4: Tu, 26.03.2024, from 8:00 PM UTC
Part 5: We, 27.03.2024, from 3:00 PM UTC
Part 6: We, 27.03.2024, from 7:00 PM UTC
Part 7: We, 27.03.2024, from 9:00 PM UTC
Part 8: Th, 28.03.2024, from 4:00 PM UTC
Part 9: Th, 28.03.2024, from 5:00 PM UTC
Part 10: Th, 28.03.2024, from 7:00 PM UTC
The auction is closed.

Description

(Ca. 1850?) Benjamin Franklin Medallic Portrait Shell. Fuld FR.ME.NL.9. Copper electrotype shell, 45 mm. Choice Mint State.

Lively and lustrous red and brown surfaces with a light stain at Franklin's chin. This is identical in form, function, and production method to Ford XIV:364 and 365 which brought $575 and $460, respectively. While this does not exist as a struck medal, someone went through the trouble of preparing this obverse and then making a number of fine electrotypes of it in the form of a uniface copper shell. Every one your cataloger has seen has been a lustrous red and brown Uncirculated, usually with a little bit of darker staining; in other words, they all look like this one and it's likely all of them stayed together as a group until relatively modern times. The portrait is excellent, and the die work is that of a professional.

From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from Presidential Coin and Antique Company's (Joe Levine) sale of April 1977, lot 841.

Estimate: $300

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Bidding

Price realized 240 USD
Starting price 1 USD
Estimate 300 USD
The auction is closed.
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