The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 44, October 29, 2006, Article 20

1876 GOLD LIFESAVING MEDAL

In addition to the Zachary Taylor medals mentioned in recent E-Sylums,
the upcoming Stack's Rarities sale includes a number of notable items,
including an 1876 Treasury Department Lifesaving medal in gold.  It's
a magnificent looking piece - be sure to view the lot online.

"The designs are still used for the Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving
Medal, though in a much smaller and significantly modified form, a
prize last distributed in 1997. They are perhaps Paquet's most
stunning, with sweeping surf sculpted in lifelike form surrounding
two men and a woman in a boat while another is being pulled from
overboard. Their wrecked vessel, sails in the sea, may be seen
behind them. On the reverse, a large area for the engraving of the
name of the lifesaver and the nature of the feat remains blank,
ready for inscription."

"It is amazing to consider that these dies, for which Anthony Paquet
was paid a nearly unheard of $1500 sum in 1875, are known by only
four surviving specimens in all metals, though perhaps another
copper specimen could be tracked down. As a point of contrast, C.C.
Wright was paid $1600 in 1849 for the dies he produced for the
Zachary Taylor medal offered above, but those dies were used by
the Mint for decades. This First Class Lifesaving Medal style was
abandoned just a year after the dies went into production, replaced
by the smaller (and cheaper) Julian LS-7 dies that were used until
1882."

To view the complete lot description and view an image of the medal, see:
lot description

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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