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Lr. 866 — Upper Canada Preserved. Undated. Silver.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,800.00 CAD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 6,500.00 CAD
Lr. 866 — Upper Canada Preserved. Undated. Silver.
SOLD
5,500.00CAD+ buyer's premium (1,100.00)
This item SOLD at 2022 Apr 28 @ 19:03UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out after all sessions of the Toronto Coin Expo Spring Sale have concluded.

McLachlan-259, Breton-57. 51.2mm. 73.7g. Plain edge. Signed T. WYON JR. In a recent sale of an Upper Canada Preserved medal, this cataloguer (JL) explained:

“The Upper Canada Preserved medal celebrates the British victories over the Americans during the War of 1812 and was intended for distribution to those exhibiting ‘extraordinary instances of personal courage and fidelity in defence of the Province.’ The medals were originally commissioned by the Loyal and Patriotic Society, with the dies cut by Thomas Wyon, Jr., chief engraver at the Royal Mint.

“The original design, as here, was first rejected, with the directors of the Society arguing that the viewer should be looking upstream rather than downstream. In other words, the lion and beaver should be on the right side of the bank, not the left. That design, which was produced in 1814, was replaced in 1817 with a modified, slightly less elegant design with the suggested changes and the addition of names of places in the Niagara region. The reverse of that revised design (Leroux-866a) was also slightly different and featured the date 1815 at centre below FOR MERIT.

“Although the desired changes had been made, once received the Society could not decide how to equitably distribute their limited supply of medals to all those deemed deserving. A resolution was passed in 1820 stating that the medals should sold as bullion and the funds directed toward other charitable endeavours. However, they remained in storage until 1840. At that time, they were defaced and sold for scrap.

“The Upper Canada Preserved medals on the market today are all either restrikes or reproductions. Restrikes began to appear on the market in the 1870s. These are all with plain edges. According to Warren Baker, writing in his Canadian Tokens & Medals, List 21: ‘Later restrikes in silver, with numbered edges were struck in a quantity of 100 for W.S. Coutts by Messrs Wyon.’ These were likely produced sometime around the centenary of the War of 1812, so 1912 to 1915.”

This plain-edge representative was likely among the first restrikes produced about 30 years after the original medals were scrapped. The obverse displays a thin blanket of violet patina over reflective fields, which contrast sharply against the detailed scene by Wyon. The reverse remains entirely brilliant and shows a few light hairlines. Several small surface marks and rim nicks are noted, including one at 7 o’clock on the obverse. One of the more iconic LeRoux medals with great visual appeal and a rock-solid pedigree.
Ex: Wayte Raymond Collection, Part II (NASCA, 6/1978), lot 2162. Original lot tag included.
From the Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals.