SMITHSONIAN DIGITIZES COMITIA AMERICANA MEDALS

The National Numismatic Collection (NNC) houses over 1.6 million objects that represent every inhabited continent and span more than three thousand years of human history. While the collection is regularly used by scholars and researchers of numismatics for its coin and paper currency holdings, it has perhaps been overlooked as a repository of some important medals and medalic arts. The collection includes a large selection of Presidential medals, many international military standards, and Indian Peace Medals. Thanks to the generous support and guidance of John W. Adams, the NNC was able to properly record, research, and digitize one particularly historic group of medals: the Comitia Americana and associated medals of the fledgling United States of America.

George Washington Before Boston

The Comitia Americana medals were created after a vote by the Continental Congress. The congress commissioned the creation of a series of medals to be given to American heroes, foreign royalty, dignitaries, and even universities as a continued declaration and celebration of American Independence. The series originally consisted of eleven proposed medals celebrating the heroism of George Washington, John Eager Howard, William Washington, Anthony Wayne, John Stewart, Daniel Morgan, John Paul Jones, Horatio Gate, François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury, Henry Lee, and Nathanael Greene. Each medal was meant to serve as a commemoration and celebration of particular military victories and the champions who led them. The NNC has 119 Comitia Americana medals with the inclusion of the Libertas Americana, and the Diplomatic Medal of Thomas Jefferson’s design. Unfortunately the collection does not yet include any of the three Franklin portrait medals, buts the holdings do include several clichés and a beautiful white metal struck from the Barré dies of the Daniel Morgan medal.

Daniel Morgan at the Cowpens

The NNC’s Comitia Americana collection includes a fair mix of originals, clichés, restrikes, and copy dies of the United States Mint at Philadelphia. The visible die breaks, rust marks, and spalling allow for clear study of the progression of dies, demonstrated below with three Nathanael Greene medals in the NNC’s collection. Artistically, the medal engravings range from portraiture, to classical iconography, to panoramic battle scenes complete with ship sails billowing in the wind.

Nathanael Greene at Eutaw Springs
Original Die Strike; U.S. Mint Strike; Electroplated Copy

The Comitia Americana medals are some of the earliest moments of the United States – as an independent nation – engaging with the international community through both politics and art. The celebration of military victory through these medals declares America to be a sovereign nation legitimized through not only victory in battle but also through medalic craft. Additionally, these medals serve as a grandiose thank you to France—particularly the Libertas Americana. The Comitia Americana medals, and their later additions, allowed the first American Congress to again make the statement of American legitimacy as it made through the Declaration of Independence, this time through numismatic art.

Libertas Americana

Thanks to the generosity of John W. Adams, the NNC has now completed the digitization of its Comitia Americana holdings. The collection’s high resolution images can be found on both the NNC’s website and the National Museum of American History’s Learning Lab website. Virtual viewers can observe each of these medals, comment on their composition, or note the probably mint of creation (whether U.S. or Paris) in conjunction with Smithsonian staff. Additionally, these medals can be viewed during research visits to the NNC. To schedule a research visit, please visit: http://americanhistory.si.edu/national-numismatic-collection .

To view the Comitia Americana images, see:
Comitia Americana Medals in the National Numismatic Collection (https://learninglab.si.edu/collections/comitia-americana-medals-in-the-national-numismatic-collection/pJFwwCycY8RWz8oA#r)

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