1781 (after 1789) Lieutenant Colonel William Washington, Battle of the Cowpens Medal. Original. Paris Mint. By Pierre Simon DuVivier. Betts-594, Adams-Bentley 11. Bronze. Plain Concave Edge. MS-65 BN (PCGS).46.5 mm. Choice mahogany-brown patina overall. Both sides are glossy and lustrous with exceptional eye appeal. Lightly reflective in the fields and showing few detractions that would keep it from an even higher Gem grade. The rims have been neatly filed in places, as made, to obscure the crumbling at the die edge. A really lovely example, as nice as any of the originals we can recall seeing. Adams-Bentley State 2.<p>This is a relatively plentiful Comitia Americana medal in original format; the dies remained at the Paris Mint for decades, and demand swelled early for strikes from these dies from collectors on both sides of the Atlantic. Those restrikes made after 1842 are marked on the edge, and any made before then are generally deemed originals, distinguished by age only by difficult to see aspects like the concavity of the edge. The edge of this piece is concave, although the die state and filed rims designate it as probably not made in 1789, but just how much later it may have been struck can only be speculated upon. Those made after 1842, in addition to CUIVRE and a privy mark on the edge, are generally highly reflective and have perfectly square edges.
