Extremely Rare Original Morgan at Cowpens Medal
One of Four in Private Hands
1781 (1789) Daniel Morgan at Cowpens Medal. Original Dies. Betts-593. Copper. Specimen-62 BN (PCGS).
56.1 mm. 1166.3 grains. Acquired by Syd Martin in our 2019 John W. Adams sale, where we described it as follows: "Plain concave edge, witness line or collaring mark at 4 o'clock relative to the obverse. An exceptional quality example of this great rarity. Glossy medium chocolate brown with attractive remnants of gold and red adhering to the peripheral design elements, particularly on the obverse. Boldly detailed on both sides, thanks to the triple striking, vestiges of which are most visible around the upper reverse legend. Some scattered marks are seen, none particularly serious, and a few tiny rim nicks are present, including one on the obverse left of the cannon breeches. A few harmless surface spots are noted, the one on the multistep inner rim below C of COMITIA most evident among them. The large die flaw below M of the date, the easiest distinguisher of the original dies, is bold and present, as are other tells: the raised lines below X of VINDEX, the spalling pit at the upper right serif of the same X, another pit near the flag finial near V of VICTORIA. These spalling pits are small and in their earliest states. "Suggestive of just how early the die state of this specimen is, a tiny fleck of gold has been struck into the edge adjacent to C of COMITIA at the left side of the obverse exergue, placing the timing of this piece's striking as close to Morgan's original as possible. The freshness and light reflectivity also suggest just how early this piece's production was in the striking sequence." Morgan's elegant strategic victory over Col. Banastre Tarleton in South Carolina's Upcountry helped set the stage for the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown. The October 1780 American victory at Kings Mountain, along the North Carolina / South Carolina border, bolstered the Patriot cause at the end of the previous campaign year. General Nathanael Greene had made his winter camp in Cheraw, in the eastern Pee Dee region of South Carolina, but a portion of his troops under General Daniel Morgan continued to move through the backcountry. Cornwallis dispatched Tarleton to give chase with a force of just over 1,000 men, mostly British regulars. Showing decisiveness and brave strategic maneuvering, Morgan chose the place he would permit Tarleton to meet his men: at the Cowpens, a pasture near the North Carolina state line close to modern Spartanburg. Morgan was known for his team of crack riflemen and decided to capitalize upon the British stereotype that American militiamen would quickly retreat. He ordered his militia to do just that, then move to the rear, re-form, and wait for Continental regulars to break through the British line. Holding the rear high ground, his plan worked like a charm, finished off by an infantry line held together by Col. John Eager Howard's leadership and a cavalry charge led by Col. William Washington as the denouement. Morgan described his defeat of Tarleton as "a devil of a whipping." Congress agreed, and selected him to receive a gold medal, while both Howard and Washington were awarded silver medals. Only Cowpens and the 1779 reduction of Stony Point were recognized with three medals. After the victory at Cowpens, Greene and Morgan reunited and moved north, meeting Cornwallis at Guilford Court House in March 1781. With his force badly weakened after the battle, Cornwallis marched for Wilmington, on the North Carolina coast, to regroup. His next, and final, stop would be Yorktown. Morgan continues to make history in the numismatic realm every time one of these is offered. The gold medal struck at the United States Mint in 1839 for Morgan's grandson as a replacement for the lost gold original brought $960,000 in our sale of April 2022. It holds the record for most valuable American medal ever sold. We have handled every single original Daniel Morgan at Cowpens medal sold at auction. There are just four in private hands: 1 - Ford XIV:210-Syd Martin-Martin V, November 2023, lot 1048 at $264,000. PCGS Specimen-64 BN. 2 - McDonald-Adams:2056-Syd Martin. PCGS Specimen-62 BN. The present example . 3 - Finn-Adams:2057. Sold uncertified as Choice About Uncirculated at $78,000 in November 2019. 4 - Margolis:1074. Sold in our March 2024 sale as PCGS Unc Details--Damage, at $66,000. Adams and Bentley located four additional originals in bronze in institutional collections, ensconced in the cabinets of the Boston Public Library (ex Augustin Dupre - Narcisse Dupre), Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, the British Museum, and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. The three silver ones include the LaRiviere-Adams piece (unique in private hands), along with examples at the Massachusetts Historical Society (Washington's own) and the Kunsthistoriches Museum in Vienna. This adds up to a total population of eight in bronze and three in silver. The gold original is somewhere in the Monongahela River, stolen from a bank in Pittsburgh in 1818 and never recovered. With the Adams and Martin collections now dispersed, and the Margolis specimen now sold after 40 years in his private cabinet, there are no other examples expected on the market anytime soon.
PCGS# 925860.
From the Sydney F. Martin Collection. Earlier from Presidential Coin and Antique Co.'s sale of the Dan Hansen Collection, November 2002, lot 455; Marc McDonald, June 2008; John W. Adams Collection; our sale of the John W. Adams Collection, November 2019, lot 2056.