(1720) John Law / Put Up or Shut Up Medal. Betts-134, Adams-25. Tin, 32.5 mm. AU-50 (PCGS).
174.6 grains. An evocatively titled medal, with a portion of the legend translated by Benjamin Betts as "put up or shut up." Lustrous silvery brilliance is present on both sides, offset by darker pewter gray fields and design elements. Superbly preserved for a tin medal of this vintage, with no corrosion or damage on either side. The largest mark is under NIES of COMPAGNIES on the reverse. This is a very rare medal, called Rarity-7 by Adams and missing from every modern offering since Ford. Even Adams himself lacked this variety, and this appears to be the only specimen we've sold dating back at least four decades and probably longer. Adams does a good job attempting to explain the complex allegory here, which seems to depict France and John Law sitting together, both ill. The reverse inscription refers to "the gout of the Royal French exchange" and goes downhill from there, referring to the illness's transmittal to the "exchanges of the Mississippi, South, and General Insurance Companies by Law." It is not a robust endorsement of Law's policies.
PCGS# 921090.
To view supplemental information and all items from the Sydney F. Martin Collection, click here.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Richard Margolis via John W. Adams; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIII, January 2006, lot 612; Rosa Americana, Ltd. (Jeff Rock), September 2006.

Estimate: $1800