Washingtoniana
1875 Magna Est Veritas Medal by Robert Laubenheimer. Musante GW-861, Baker-292B. Bronze. Plain edge. SP-66 (PCGS).
50.6 mm. 832.7 grains. Light mahogany brown surfaces are pleasantly lustrous, remarkably uniform and exhibit only the most trivial marks. Anomalies on the highest point of the obverse relief correspond with a slightly weak area on the reverse and are likely planchet texture that did not strike out at that point. It is difficult to know what was intended by past writers in determining the differences in copper and bronze for certain issues, but we assume it has solely to do with comparative appearances. In this case, the medal is a light mahogany brown and a bit more “coppery” in appearance than the darker brown specimen in the same Johnson and Jensen lot this came from. This was probably the version called “copper” in Rulau-Fuld, while the darker one was likely called “bronze.” However, this is almost certainly a bronze medal or perhaps even bronzed, though both are probably simply different bronze alloys.
PCGS# 785161.
From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Johnson & Jensen, April 1981, lot 1236 (part).
Estimate: $500