Circa 1858 Manly medal. Second Obverse reissue. Musante GW-11, Baker-62B. Copper. SP-62 BN (PCGS).50.0 mm. 912.7 grains. A fascinating flip-over double struck example, and like the fire gilt specimen above, the first we have seen. Beautiful faded tan and milk chocolate brown surfaces. Areas of deeper patina are seen in the fields left and right of the portrait and near EN of GENERAL on the reverse. Sharply struck as usual, with crisp detail throughout, fine satiny luster and thick, broad rims. Around the upper reverse rim, small anomalies prove upon close inspection to be letters, remnants of the <em>obverse</em> legend of an earlier striking of this same medal. The date, 1732, is complete and easy to find, just right of 12:00. A few other letters from the end of the legend are detected, as is the tip of the hair braid and the O.S. It is remarkable that no more of the undertype is visible, though close inspection of the fields reveals some faint tooling that was likely laid down by the maker in a successful attempt to remove some of the more visible artifacts. These marks will be found right behind Washington’s head, and in the upper left center of the reverse.<p>There were two bronze 1850s-vintage Manly medals in the Bushnell sale, and Baker bought the one that the Chapmans described as “thick planchet.” Indeed, this piece is substantially heavier than the one in the following lot. A brief survey of pieces for which we have recorded weights indicates that these vary widely, from 661.2 grains to 912.7. This is the heaviest among them and thus a reasonable confirmation that it is the one from the Bushnell sale.<p>The dies are cracked as usually seen on these later impressions, but this piece is an earlier die state than the one in the next lot. Here, the fine crack connecting the first Es of RESIGNED and PRESIDENT has not yet developed, nor is the G of GENERAL connected to the rim.Ex Charles I. Bushnell, S.H. and H. Chapman, June 1882, lot 1288; William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897. Bushnell owned two reissue Manly medals in copper and he purchased one of them as lot 3005 in the October 1867 sale of Joseph Mickley’s collection. Unfortunately, there is no way to be certain which of Bushnell’s pieces carried this illustrious provenance.
