C. 1850? Libertas Americana Medal Obverse Design. Bronze cast, uniface. 42.6 mm. By Augustin Dupre. Type of Betts-615. Extremely Fine.，38.57 grams, 4.0-4.7 mm thick. A marvelous decorative object, cast from a mold incorporating only Dupres flowing hair Liberty of his Libertas Americana medal, without any legends, a circular inner border was introduced where the bottoms of the legends would have been, the overall size of the medal reduced from the approximately 48 millimeters of an original struck Libertas Americana Medal. The mold was clearly made from an original medal, the details matching perfectly, down to Dupres clear signature on the truncation of the bust. The original intention of this piece was undoubtedly as an object to decorate a box or piece of furniture, and it might have been made by famous electrotyper Samuel Black, who incorporated the obverse of the Libertas Americana medal into the upper right corner of his 1859 National Medallion Plaque. Unlike Blacks electrotype products, this piece is clearly cast, the rough, unfinished cast surface being plainly visible in the blank, noticeably concave reverse, contrasting with the gorgeous chocolate brown, well-patinated obverse. Two holes were drilled from face to back at top and bottom of obverse to affix to some object. Further research may reveal more about this lovely piece, as someone went to great lengths to create this variation of this important and iconic early American medal, perhaps the most famous and desired of all time.
