The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 52, December 23, 2007, Article 7

ON WRIGHT, FRANKLIN, BRONGNIART, AND THE LIBERTAS AMERICANA MEDAL

Bill Eckberg writes: "It was very good to have the opportunity 
to read the Brongniart correspondence in its original French 
and in translation. I agree with Karl Moulton that these 
are important pieces of correspondence related to early US 
exonumia, and I am gratified that my review brought this 
information to light. I am a firm believer that more evidence 
is always better than less, and I am pleased that Moulton 
turned this information up. As I indicated in the review, 
I wish the original source materials had made it into the book. 

"The letters do not provide a 'smoking gun' demonstrating 
unequivocally who designed the Libertas Americana medal. 
Nevertheless, I cannot see any way that this correspondence 
implicates Wright. Brongniart clearly says that the designs 
are from someone that HE, not Franklin, identified and that 
he had both a sculptor and a painter work on them. (Both 
are unidentified in the correspondence, though we can guess 
that Dupré and Gibelin are those indicated.) Since Brongniart 
claims that he engaged those who designed it, that would 
point away from Wright's involvement as the designer.

"What we do not know, and probably cannot know, is whether 
Wright suggested a motif to Franklin and, if so, whether 
that motif was actually used. He may have, but we are left 
with only tenuous, circumstantial evidence on which to base 
such a conclusion. Thus, I remain unconvinced. I don't doubt 
that Franklin and Wright met in France towards the end of 
the American Revolution, but they were not the only Americans 
living and working there. Others may have influenced Franklin. 
We just don't know.

"With respect to John Adams' offer, my position was simply 
that there is no hard evidence that Wright had any meaningful 
involvement in the design of the medal. The new information, 
while interesting, does not change that, so I have nothing 
new to add.

"Finally, it was not my goal in the review to 'discount what 
[was] presented' in what I considered to be a generally 
favorable review of a book I'm glad I purchased."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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