LOT   /  Toronto Coin Expo Spring Sale 2022  / 

55

Lr. Unlisted — Security of Colonial Trade: Safety at Sea. 1755. Silver.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:3,600.00 CAD Estimated At:12,000.00 - 13,000.00 CAD
Lr. Unlisted — Security of Colonial Trade: Safety at Sea. 1755. Silver.
SOLD
4,200.00CAD+ (756.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Apr 29 @ 13:01UTC-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.

Betts-392, Eimer-652. 35mm. 14.6g. Plain edge. Signed P.P.W. (Peter Paul Werner). Although not listed in the standard Canadian references, this piece is included in C. Wyllys Betts’ American Colonial History Illustrated by Contemporary Medals (1894) and should be considered an important historical medal in the Canadian (and American) series. In the July 1889 issue of the American Journal of Numismatics, George M. Parsons wrote the following:

“I take for granted that the medal shown in the engraving refers the relations which existed between the French and the English North American Colonies. The Indian and alligator represent the French possessions, which extended from the St. Lawrence on the North, the home of the friendly Indian, to the Gulf Mexico to the South, the home the alligator. I have given that interpretation to the two symbols joined on the French Colonial Jeton of 1651 [sic]. It is quite probable the design the medal was taken from the Jeton. The female figure, with crown and sceptre, is Britannia seated upon a sea-horse, a type of her assumed sovereignty over the seas. There is no appearance of the horn of the unicorn, which is always prominent; I therefore conclude that the animal is a sea-horse. Besides, if one of the supporters of the English crown had been used in this connection, it would have been the lion and not the unicorn.”

Parsons provides a full explanation of his interpretation — that the medal served as “invocation for peace, a protest against the more general hostilities [between the North American colonies of England and France] which were likely to follow the events of the previous summer” — in that 1889 article, which we highly recommend interested parties consult. More recently, Jean Lecompte has described the medal as commemorating the naval battle that took place in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on June 8, 1755 between the British and French colonial troops, which eventually contributed to the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War.
The Safety at Sea medal is decidedly rare. Although three examples were sold as part of the Ford Collection, appearances since then can be counted on one hand. This was the finest example of the three Ford representatives, and we believe it ranks solidly among the very finest Safety at Sea medals known, including the Lecompte piece in MS62, which brought $10,200 euros or roughly $14,625 Canadian dollars in October 2021. Both sides are magnificently toned in original shades of gold, violet, and blue patina. Virtually flawless.
Ex: Wayte Raymond estate; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XIV (Stack’s, 5/2006), lot 110. Lot tag included.
From the Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals.
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