拍品描述： 1906 Benjamin Franklin Birth Bicentennial Medal. U.S. Mint Striking. Bronze. 101 mm. By Augustus and Louis Saint-Gaudens. Greenslet GM-119. Plain Edge. MS-66 BN (NGC). This handsome example is a deep satiny coffee bean brown, the high points of the design elements accented in very slightly lighter tones, as made. The virtually pristine surfaces are remarkably free of handling marks, imparting a notably dramatic appearance to this massive medal. Here is truly exceptional example of this master work of brothers Augustus and Louis Saint-Gaudens, the premier sculptors of their day.Conceived in 1903 by the American Philosophical Society (of which Franklin was once a member) and authorized by Congress in 1904, this glorious medal took nearly 16 months of work by Augustus and Louis Saint-Gaudens. Tiffany & Co. was chosen to strike the Congressionally authorized example in gold as well as 150 additional examples in bronze, with 100 of those going to the United States government for distribution, and the other 50 going to the American Philosophical Society for its purposes. This first strikings all have the TIFFANY edge mark. After the presentation ceremony, the American Philosophical Society decided it needed more of the medals and received permission to use the dies to strike an additional 200 medals at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia during February 1907. Examples from that mintage lack the TIFFANY edge mark, as here. From the Richard Hoover Collection.

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