"1777" (ca. 1787) General Horatio Gates at Saratoga Medal. Paris Mint Original. Betts-557, Adams-Bentley 4. Bronze. MS-62 BN (PCGS).
1283.6 grains. Plain concave edge with collar mark above ST of STRENUO. While some plain edge Comitia Americana medals can only be dated to before the era of edge marking at the Paris Mint, some entries in the series were simply never restruck from the original dies: DeFleury, Wayne, Stewart, Morgan. The Gates medal is a unique circumstance, as the dies were transported to the United States shortly after their Paris Mint usage and were deposited at the Philadelphia Mint by 1801. This piece shows a classic Paris Mint edge, not the square collar employed in Philadelphia, and is thus unquestionably an original Paris Mint issue from the initial mintage in bronze, consisting of just 24 pieces. The surfaces are attractive golden-brown with a highly original appearance, including some scattered verdigris and spotting. A spot is seen in the upper right obverse field, under I of DUCI, along with an area on the two-step inner rim above the same letter. Another little patch around NU of STRENUO shows a scrape within. Sharp and attractive, undamaged and showing only minor handling and a little bit of reverse cabinet friction. A very handsome example of an unheralded rarity. We sold Richard Margolis' original Gates like this one, graded PCGS MS-63 BN, in our April 2024 sale for $16,800. The only other bronze examples from the original emission your cataloger has seen in the marketplace are the Ford medal (initially graded EF, later NGC MS-62 BN), the Adams specimen (also graded EF), and the lovely Dorchester Heights specimen from our August 2012 sale. Accompanied by a two-piece threaded brass frame, with mount and loop for wall hanging at top, likely early 19th century.

Estimate: $12000