Kolbe & Fanning
Auction 159 6 Mar 2021
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The Collection of the Director of Medals, Involved with the Libertas Americana
Demauroy, Commissaire-Priseur. CATALOGUE DE MÉDAILLES ANTIQUES ET MODERNES DU CABINET DE FEU M. DE COTTE, ANCIEN DIRECTEUR DE LA MONNAIE DES MÉDAILLES DE FRANCE ... Paris, 8 octobre 1810. [19 by 12.5 cm], original plain paper covers, stitched. viii, 30 pages; 254 lots. Early institutional ink stamp; covers worn. Very good. Jules-François de Cotte (1721–1810) was Directeur et contrôleur de la monnaie des médailles from 1767 to 1803, a remarkable span of time encompassing both the reign of Louis XVI and the revolutionary era. As such, he corresponded with Benjamin Franklin about the famous Libertas Americana medal. In an important letter sent to Franklin on 26 mars 1783, de Cotte wrote of these medals that "Les 2 d'or, 20 d'Argent et 20 de bronze, que vous aves demandé, seront demain en Etat d'etre livrées a la personne que vous chargeres de les retirer des mains du S. Roger principal Commis de la Monnoye des Medailles" (The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 39, page 391). This fixes the date of the production of the gold Libertas Americana medals and is of the highest importance to American medallic history. While perhaps secondary to the catalogue at hand, it illustrates the importance of the person whose collection was here offered. The collection offered was very large, but unfortunately it was mostly grouped into large lots, reasonably well described, but still extensive (the bulk of the Roman collection, some 6119 pieces, comprises lot 143; the previous lot offered 660 sestertii). Ex Peus Auction of May 12, 2000, lot 8584.
Demauroy, Commissaire-Priseur. CATALOGUE DE MÉDAILLES ANTIQUES ET MODERNES DU CABINET DE FEU M. DE COTTE, ANCIEN DIRECTEUR DE LA MONNAIE DES MÉDAILLES DE FRANCE ... Paris, 8 octobre 1810. [19 by 12.5 cm], original plain paper covers, stitched. viii, 30 pages; 254 lots. Early institutional ink stamp; covers worn. Very good. Jules-François de Cotte (1721–1810) was Directeur et contrôleur de la monnaie des médailles from 1767 to 1803, a remarkable span of time encompassing both the reign of Louis XVI and the revolutionary era. As such, he corresponded with Benjamin Franklin about the famous Libertas Americana medal. In an important letter sent to Franklin on 26 mars 1783, de Cotte wrote of these medals that "Les 2 d'or, 20 d'Argent et 20 de bronze, que vous aves demandé, seront demain en Etat d'etre livrées a la personne que vous chargeres de les retirer des mains du S. Roger principal Commis de la Monnoye des Medailles" (The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 39, page 391). This fixes the date of the production of the gold Libertas Americana medals and is of the highest importance to American medallic history. While perhaps secondary to the catalogue at hand, it illustrates the importance of the person whose collection was here offered. The collection offered was very large, but unfortunately it was mostly grouped into large lots, reasonably well described, but still extensive (the bulk of the Roman collection, some 6119 pieces, comprises lot 143; the previous lot offered 660 sestertii). Ex Peus Auction of May 12, 2000, lot 8584.