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Estimated Value
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$38,100
Name or Denominations
1783 AE Medal Betts-615, Libertas Americana, BN
Issuer
United States
Ruler
NA
Year of Minting
1783
Currency
Dollar (1792-date)
Shape
Round
Rarity
Rare
Weight
NA
Diameter
47.5 mm
Thickness
NA
Material
Other
Shape
Round
Edge Type
Plain
Technique
Struck
Front design
Head of Liberty facing right, wearing a Phrygian cap. Legend: "LIBERTAS AMERICANA"
Back design
Infant Hercules strangling two serpents in his cradle, with Minerva standing by. Legend: "DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO 1783"
Year of Minting
1783
Ruler
NA
Mint location
Philadelphia
Mint mark
NA
Orientation
Coin alignment
Inscriptions
LIBERTAS AMERICANA | DECUS ET TUTAMEN ANNO 1783
Context
: The Libertas Americana medal is one of the most famous and cherished of all the medals relating to American history. According to the historical record, the brainchild for the medal and its designs was none other than Benjamin Franklin. In a March 1782 letter to Robert Livingston, U.S. Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Franklin wrote, "This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to strike ... representing the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, strangling the two serpents; and France by that of Minerva, sitting by as his nurse, with her spear and helmet, and her robe specked by a few 'fleurs-de-lis." (quoted in Joseph Loubat's The Medallic History of the United States of America ). Clearly, the final design is a bit more aggressive than Franklin's suggestion, but one gets the point nonetheless. The obverse of the medal shows a head of Liberty with flowing hair, facing right, a freedman's cap atop a pole in the background. This model served as the inspiration for some of the U.S. Pattern coinage of 1792 and for the first U.S. Half Cents in 1793.
Rarity
Rare
Coin type
Libertas Americana Medals (1781)
In circulation
NA
Demonetized
No
Marketplace listings
0
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