Cast Copy 1779 John Stewart at Stony Point Medal. Designs by Nicolas-Marie Gatteaux. After Betts-567, Adams-Bentley 7. Copper-Plated Lead. About Uncirculated.45 mm. 391.67 grains. Essentially uncollectible, the John Stewart Comitia Americana medal is known in private hands by a single confirmed example in bronze: the Richard Margolis specimen that realized $900,000 when it sold in our Spring 2024 Auction. The only other original John Stewart that is privately owned is the obverse cliche in white metal that traded for $16,800 in our November 2019 sale of the John W. Adams Collection. Two silver examples are in museums, while Stewarts own silver example was last described in the possession of the family in 1897. The only other bronze known is in the collection of the New York Historical Society, and the other three cliches that have been traced are also in museum collections.<p>With so few original medals and cliches known, many prominent institutional and private collections of Comitia Americana medals going back to the mid-19th century have included electrotypes and casts instead. Writing in their article <em>Rarest of the Rare: The John Stewart Comitia Americana Medal</em>, Robert L. Fagaly and Tony Lopez trace only eight electrotype and 10 cast copies - limited totals that confirm the John Stewart medal is also a major rarity in this format. The offered specimen is not included in the Fagaly-Lopez census, and it is most readily identifiable by tiny casting flaws in the obverse rim at 6 and 10 oclock, as well as a reverse spot around the legs of the nearest charging soldier with bayonet at left. Definition is generally sharp, the underlying lead peering through only faintly at several high points and throughout the field areas on both sides. In addition to the aforementioned identifiers, the overall fabric is a bit rough, but more from casting imperfections than handling. Generally pale reddish-brown in color, the eye appeal is pleasing for a cast copy.<p>Of note to specialists is the lack of doubling to the Roman numeral XV in the date below the exergual line on the reverse of the present example. Fagaly and Lopez note that most of the known copies show doubling to this numeral and conclude, "We have been unable to identify any host medal used to make the examples showing the doubled XV."<p>The last cast copy we sold - also not included in the published Fagaly-Lopez census - showed doubling to the XV. It realized $6,600 as lot 2125 in our August 2020 Auction. There now appear to be around 20 copies around, electrotypes and casts combined, 14 of which are in museum collections. Here, then, is a rare opportunity for the collector of early Comitia Americana medals to include both obverse and reverse designs of this extremely challenging medal.From the Norman W. Neubauer Collection.
