Exonumia Auction - Maine Antique Digest

Miscellaneous Tokens and MedalsLot 423the year 1908. An AU example brought $287.50 in our last sale.424. COLLEGE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK ADOLPHWERNER PLAQUETTE- REVERSE CLICHÉ. 63.7mm.Bronze. Unc. Uniface. A cliché of the reverse - one of 10 struckat the U.S. Mint. (F)Lot 426 (reduced)grams silver. Pristine. By Adolph A. Weinman, sculptor. From our12/4/04 sale of Dick Johnson’s Collection of Galvanos, Modelsand Dies for Medallic Art, where we described it as follows: Thescene depicts mounted cavalry with swords drawn, infantry behind,and gunners with cannon at far right. This bas-relief design, inlarger size, can be seen on the pedestal of the Maryland UnionSoldiers and Sailors Monument in Baltimore. It was reduced tothis intimate size by Henri and Felix Weil (the founding brothersof the Medallic Art Company).The piece here is signed and dated in the lower right corner:A.A.WEINMAN.FECIT MCMIX. The image is sharp andpristine without flaw or fracture. The only signs of nearly a centuryof existence are nicks on the edges, with only 4 or 5 tiny such edgenicks visible on the lower left outer edge of the two-step horizontalplinth. There is a slight arc to the top border giving a pleasantshape to the plaque.Lot 425425. NATIONAL ACADEMY OF DESIGN J. SANFORD SALTUSAWARD MEDAL, (1908) Smedley 78; Baxter 132. 51.4mm.Bronze. Victor D. Brenner, Sc. (U.S. Mint.) Uncirculated.Obverse with a seated figure of a partially clad woman; her lefthand holding a partly completed ivy garland and her right handpicking leaves from branches behind here. The surrounding legendreads; NATIONAL . The reverse has a cartouche superimposedover an oak branch inscribed, AWARDED TO/ / FOR ARTISTICMERIT.This medal was one the original strikes made by the U.S. Mint in1908. Later strikes were made by the Medallic Art Company andbear their edge mark. A total of 12 medals were struck at the minton 2/8/08. This is the first of these original strikes that we havehandled and can find no auction offering of another. We sold onethe later strikes in gold plated bronze in our 2008 Auction SeventyEight for $218.50. (G-H)426. BALTIMORE CIVIL WAR MONUMENT SILVERGALVANO PLAQUE, 1909. 5 1/8 x 7 1/8” silver galvano, 486.5The Weil brothers were close friends with the sculptor, AdolphWeinman. They were to reproduce Weinman’s bas-relief workand in the same year as this piece was modeled, they producedthe Three Heads Medal for the American Institute of Architects.Weinman, of course, was the designer and modeler of the MercuryHead dime and the Liberty Walking half dollar both of 1916.Silver galvanos are exceedingly rare, with only such Americanartists of this period as Victory D. Brenner and Weinman knownto have had bas-reliefs made of silver. There are two screw headssilver soldered to the back with a heavy wire for hanging. (Theback also displays the sunken areas of the raised relief on theobverse, plus typical electroplating nodules.) A test mark lowerright indicates the piece’s silver composition. The attractiveobverse has a patina best described as “ash silver. ”Dick Johnsonobtained this piece in the summer of 1979 from the sculptor’sson Robert Weinman, himself a noted sculptor. It has been in hiscollection for a quarter century. With multiple topical interests —military, Civil War, horses, weapons — created by a famed coinartist, in exceedingly rare silver galvano form, and with stunningdesign, this piece is medallic art at its finest! It will certainly bea showpiece of any private collection! It realized $2127.50 as lot#608 in our sale of The Johnson Collection.427. THE FIRST BELGIAN DIRIGIBLE FLIGHT, (CA. 1909).119H