(Benjamin Franklin) | Possibly one of the earliest Franklin medals

(Benjamin Franklin)

Bronze uniface medal with bust of Franklin to left in wig and coat, titled "Ben'n Franklin. L. L. D." [William Mossop?, ca. 1766]

Size 24 (36 mm diameter, 356.5 grains). Obverse with bust of Franklin facing left in wig and coat, reverse plain, unsigned and undated, slight abrasions to Franklin's wig as issued. PCGS MS-64, graded and sealed.

A rare example of possibly one of the earliest Franklin medals.

Noting the inclusion of his honorary title "L.L.D.," the Numismatic Chronicle posited in 1891 that the present medal was struck around 1757, the year that Franklin visited England as an agent for Pennsylvania and received a degree of Doctor of Laws at St. Andrew's, Edinburgh, and Oxford. Betts writes that if the Chronicle is correct, "it is probably the earliest of the Franklin Medals."

However, some scholars now date the medal to around or after 1766, as the portrait is believed to be inspired by Isaac Gossett's portrait of Franklin from that year. Though the work is unsigned, the die is attributed to the elder William Mossop of Dublin, "one of the most distinguished Medallists of his time" (Betts).

REFERENCES

Betts 545; Numismatic Chronicle, 1891, p. 101

PROVENANCE

Alan Weinberg — Richard August (Stack's Bowers, 31 March 2025, lot 1178)