1844 Henry Clay Political Medal. DeWitt-HC 1844-18. Copper. Choice Mint State.
36 mm. Last offered in our September 2013 John J. Ford, Jr. Collection sale, where it was certified MS-6e by NGC and described as Blended medium brown and copper brown patina blankets sharply impressed, virtually blemish-free surfaces. Scattered die rust (as made) is evident in the fields on both sides. An example of this type was offered as lot 100 in the April 1865 sale of the Joseph N.T. Levick Collection, where it was described as, "the reproduction of some enterprising person." This is the sole example in copper we have offered since that time, and the finely bronzed surfaces point to a professional medalist creating these for contemporary collectors. The Ford sale included three pieces from these dies: this example, an unholed white metal example in a similarly rusted/spalled die state, and a holed white metal piece in an earlier die state, presumably a striking from 1844. We've only offered one other in recent memory, a late state unholed white metal example in our sale of March 2018. With its significant rarity, its fine high relief portrait of Clay, and an attractive rendition of the Washington Monument in Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood, this medal has a lot to offer, but opportunities to acquire it are few and far between. This lot includes NGC insert #2604132-007 with a grade of MS-63 from an earlier certification of this piece.
From the Harry and Phyllis Salyards Collection. Earlier from Wayte Raymond; F.C.C. Boyd estate; John J. Ford, Jr.; our sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XXIV, September 2013, lot 10456.

Estimate: $250