Circa 1863 New Haven Numismatic Society medal by C. Wyllys Betts. Musante GW-980, Baker-617. White Metal. MS-62 (PCGS).43.8 mm. Attractive light pewter gray with only single tiny pesting spot and trivial handling. We have handled a few of these over the years, but this is the nicest we have seen in at least 15 years, if not ever.<p>Struck over a circa 1860 Andrew Jackson medal (DeWitt-AJACK-A), also a product of C. Wyllys Betts. We are aware of three examples of this medal carefully overstruck on the same host: this piece, one at Yale, and that in the Massachusetts Historical Society. On all three choice pieces we have seen, the host is most easily detected at the center of the dated side, where the star and burst of rays from the reverse of the Jackson medal are clearly evident. Though these pieces were dated by Rulau and Fuld to the 1880s, they were in fact struck at the time of the founding of the Society. The first appearance we are aware of was in W. Elliot Woodward’s sale of May 1864, which was primarily the John F. McCoy Collection, but included a supplement of pieces consigned by Betts. Under lot 32 of the supplement is one of these medals. Woodward wrote that 25 had been struck, and though the dies were not destroyed, “by the By-Laws of the Society, only a few more will be made.” The medal is quite rare today, so we presume the “By-Laws” were adhered to.Ex William Spohn Baker Collection, to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by bequest, November 15, 1897.
