(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