1790 Manly Medal. Original Dies. Musante GW-10, Baker-61A. White Metal. Name Removed. Specimen-61 (PCGS).48.7 mm. 356.0 grains. Medium to light pewter gray overall with some olive and deeper gray patina in places, and a few tiny spots scattered over both sides. Traces of soft luster remain in the fields. Though this was struck on a fairly thin flan (the medals at Yale from the LaRiviere Collection each weigh around 670 grains), the soft composition allowed for very nice execution of the design features on both sides. The obverse relief is full, as are the letters of the legend. On the reverse, the strength of the legend is uniformly full, and even the tiny peripheral date at the lower reverse, 1790, is sharp and free of the interior grooves of the rim. As with the silver impression offered previously, this medal has had the publisher’s name, MANLY, somewhat neatly tooled from the field.Of the 24 specimens listed in the present writer’s census of original white metal Manly medals, at least three have had the signatures removed. The status of this feature remains uncertain on about three more, since the available images of the medals do not clearly show this often lightly executed area of the reverse. As noted in our description of the silver example above, the removal of the signature is common enough to warrant its identification as a collectable variant. Even the high-grade specimen in William Spohn Baker’s own collection was without the signature. Ex James King; Jack Collins, our (Stacks) April 1996 sale, lot 62; our (American Numismatic Rarities) January 2004 sale, lot 1684.
