1781 Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Splashers

1781 Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Obverse and Reverse Splashers. Uniface. White Metal Backed With Paper. 56.4 mm. 22.56 grams and 34.30 grams, respectively. Adams andBentley-10, Betts-593, Julian MI-7. Mint State.

The medal awarded to Daniel Morgan for his rout of the British at Cowpens is a tour de force in the Comitia Americana series, its fabulous Dupre designs and die work consideredto be his second best after only the ever popular and beautiful Libertas Americana medal. The intricate reverse (actually intended as the obverse) shows a mounted Daniel Morganleading the cavalry charge that helped defeat the better trained and similarly sized British force under Lieutenant-Colonel Banastre Tarleton at the Cowpens in South Carolina.

Dupre's scene of horses, troops, bodies, smoke, flags and carnage is unmatched in the Comitia series; the design of displayed eagle on the Americans' standard on thismedal produced in 1789 presages Dupre's design of the 1790 Diplomatic Medal. Although traditionally offered as individual objects, the current set is being offered as abeautiful pair of epreuves of the completed obverse and reverse designs, created by impressing the dies into molten metal poured onto scrap paper, the remains of which are stillvisible on the blank backs of both pieces. Remains of wax or epoxy or also on the backs of both, as they were perhaps mounted to a display at some juncture in their 230 yearexistence.

The obverse splasher, or cliché, is notably thinner, its surfaces a pleasing medium gray with natural lacuna from thin tin, chiefly below the exergual line where the pour musthave been thinnest. This delicate object is quite straight, though with slight waves through MORGAN and through the periphery around the 5 o'clock position. Its back showssome of the bright metal where the paper backing has been scraped away. The reverse splasher, or cliché, is notably thicker than the obverse, with a coating of protective lacqueron its face that gives the initial impression of a bronze specimen. Light handling marks are noted chiefly along the rims, and some lacuna in the metal are noted around the 3o'clock position.

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1781 Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Obverse and Reverse Splashers. Uniface. White Metal Backed With Paper.(https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-BJAW9)

1865 New York State Volunteers Medal

1865 New York State Volunteers Medal. Bronzed Copper. 37.4 mm. Julian MI-32, Vernon US-475. About Uncirculated.

Struck to be presented to volunteers from New York who served in the Army or Navy during the Civil War, this one not inscribed with a recipient's name. An important medalin that R. W. Julian in his encyclopedic Medals of the United States Mint described this previously unknown medal from only fragmentary information in Mint records. He could onlynote the size and that the obverse was dated 1865 and the reverse inscription began with PRESENTED TO. Here is the complete description. Obv: An eagle surmounted Seal of the Stateof New York with PER ARDUA SURGO above, STATE OF NEW YORK / 1865 below. Rev: A 14-line inscription PRESENTED TO / (blank) / BY R. E. FENTON, / GOVERNOR / OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK./ IN PERSUANCE OF / CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS / OF THE / LEGISLATURE, / AS A MEMENTO / OF THE / COURAGE AND FIDELITY / WITH WHICH HE HAS SERVED / THE STATE, / DURING THE WAR OF THEREBELLION.

Choice semi-reflective surfaces still displaying some of the original mint red. The planchet and surfaces with no problems of note. An interesting consideration is that thismedal is valued at $1,000 in Sidney B. Vernon's Collectors Guide to Orders, Medals and Decorations, Fourth Revised Edition (2000), the latest edition, although still 18years old as of this writing.

To read the complete lot description, see:
1865 New York State Volunteers Medal (https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-BJC8U)

1871 George F. Robinson Medal

1871 George F. Robinson Medal. Silver. 76.8 mm. 3,613.5 grains. By Anthony C. Paquet. Julian PE-27. MS-63 (NGC).

Witness line at 8:45. Both the obverse and reverse of this piece are a beautiful silver gray with iridescent gold overtones and a few areas of blue and rose, principally aroundthe peripheries. The centers are very sharply struck and the dramatic rescue scene on the reverse is bold and clear. The rims are undamaged and the edge is sound. Extremely rare:one of just two struck in silver sometime between 1874 and the first half of 1875. This medal was voted by Congress in gold for Robinson's preventing the assassination ofSecretary of State William Seward at the hazard of his own life. Robinson's gold medal was received by the Smithsonian in 1947.

To read the complete lot description, see:
1871 George F. Robinson Medal (https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-BJEF7)

I reached out to Dick Johnson, who writes: