1779 (1780) De Fleury at Stony Point Medal. Betts-566. Bronze, 45.5 mm. MS-63 BN (PCGS). 671.1 grains. Plain concave edge with a collar mark left of 12 oclock. A superlative example of this early American classic, the very first of the Comitia Americana medals and the only one completed under the care of Benjamin Franklin. The surfaces are glossy and lustrous olive brown, more golden in some areas and closer to medium chocolate brown in others. The devices are superbly showcased in terms of detail and contrast with the fields, lending the entire medal exceptional eye appeal for the grade assigned. Beyond two short hairlines tucked into the lowest portion of the left obverse field and a vertical hairline from the parapet toward the flagpole, there are few flaws of any significance to report. A tiny natural struck-through depression is seen above the right side of Y in STONY in the reverse exergue. This piece is choice: well preserved, beautifully toned, fully original, and essentially problem free. The die state is the same as other originals seen, with raised die spalling beneath the letters AC in AUDACIAE, three individual lumps present above the left side of the exergual line at the bases of the letters RT in VIRTUTIS, and a tiny die rust pit midway between the words PALUDES and HOSTES on the reverse. These features are present on the silver impressions and, as Adams and Bentley report, "Specimens with these characteristics are undoubtedly from the original run."
Like Libertas Americana medals, all original De Fleury medals can trace their provenance to Ben Franklin. The De Fleurys were all struck in 1780 and the honoree received his silver medal in 1783. These original dies by Duvivier were never used to produce restrikes; the U.S. Mint made copy dies in the late 19th century to satisfy collector demand. The Adams-Bentley census enumerated five silver examples; the only one in private hands fetched $120,000 in our November 2019 sale of the John W. Adams Collection. Nine examples in bronze are listed on the Adams-Bentley census, (including this one as No. 3) making this among the most elusive of the "collectible" Comitia Americana medals. Two of the nine listed are impounded (Colonial Williamsburg and the British Museum). We can subtract one from that census (Eric P. Newmans "Midwestern Collection" held just one piece, not two) add two others to the census (the Cardinal Foundation example and a lower grade one discovered in Europe in recent years), for a total of 10 known to us, of which only eight are held privately. Ford owned two of these, which sold for deceptively low prices before collectors understood the rarity of an original DeFleury; Ford XIV:200 brought $6,900 in 2006 and $30,550 in our ANA sale of August 2012. Since the Ford sale, we have sold just three: the Adams piece, the Cardinal piece, and a second appearance of the second Ford piece.
The grade of this piece surpasses the example most recently sold at public auction: the Cardinal Foundation Collection example, graded MS-62 BN (PCGS), that realized $36,000 in our ANA sale of August 2021. Others were not certified when sold, but this one would hold its own in a contest for finest.
From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from Dorotheums (Vienna) sale of September 1980.
