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The E-Sylum: Volume 10, Number 49, December 2, 2007, Article 11 LAFAYETTE'S GOLD CINCINNATI SOCIETY MEDAL TO BE SOLD [Arthur Shippee forwarded this New York Times article of the upcoming sale of Lafayette's gold Society of the Cincinnati medal. -Editor] "Arnaud Meunier du Houssoy arrived in New York from Paris on Saturday to be celebrated at events in New York, Philadelphia, Boston and the nation's capital to mark a season of Lafayette commemorations. "It is the 250th anniversary year of the birth of the Revolutionary War general, and a major new exhibition — “French Founding Father: Lafayette's Return to Washington's America” — recently opened at the New-York Historical Society. Next month there will be a multimillion-dollar auction of a historic gold medal of the Society of the Cincinnati: an enameled patriotic badge created for George Washington that was presented to Lafayette in 1824 after Washington's death. "“The medal has been kept in our family for more than 180 years,” the 48-year-old M. du Houssoy said, “but it was originally George Washington's, and it belongs to America.” Six days before the Dec. 11 auction, it will be on display at Sotheby's; on view in America for the first time since the World's Columbian Exhibition of 1893 in Chicago. "The medal was commissioned by George Washington after the Revolutionary War, and created to his specifications in Paris by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the Continental Army commander who later designed the street plan for Washington, D.C. "The insignia (variously termed a medal, badge or order), measures about 1 ˝ inches high and is finely chased (ornamentally engraved) in gold in the form of an eagle surrounded by a laurel wreath; it is believed to be adorned with its original silk ribbon of sky blue and white. "It is decorated with a medallion honoring Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman nobleman in the fifth century B.C. who was called away from tilling his fields to save the republic from invaders — then returned to his farm instead of seizing power. Eighteenth-century Americans often likened Washington to Cincinnatus. "The Cincinnati order was formed by Washington and a few officers, including Lafayette, to ensure that the ideals of the Revolution would not die after one generation." To read the complete article, see: Full Story LAFAYETTE'S GOLD CINCINNATI SOCIETY MEDAL TO BE SOLD esylum_v10n36a15.html Wayne Homren, Editor The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org. To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@coinlibrary.com To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum | |
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