The Libretas Americana Medal

[coinsarefun]

One of America's most beautiful Medals ever made.

This is an electrotype of the obverse. I hope you enjoy viewing it.

[rrantique]

What a beautiful addition Congrats.

[VDB Coins]

Great snag CoinsAreFun!

I posted this on another forum and thought the folks here too would enjoy the story.

Congratulations CoinsAreFun on a great acquisition!

Not totally off-topic but when I went back to Yale recently for a concert I was able to meet and chat with the curator of the Yale Numismatic Collection, charming fellow named Bill Metcalf. After we had a good long visit and looked at some coins and medals (I was interested in their Bela Pratt and Russian stuff; little did I know what awaited me downstairs on display afterwards), we said our adieus and I went down as directed into the lower parts of Street Hall (the Numismatic Collection is part of the fabulous, world-class Yale Art Gallery) to the American Decorative Arts Before the 20th Century section (yep, how many museums have one of those?).

Hanging on the wall -- rather anonymously unless one knew what one was looking at, along with many other medals, all behind a plexiglass shield (and with quite good security, I was glad to see) -- was a beautiful, high-end AU silver Libertas Americana medal. A little pamphlet in a wall hanger gave brief curatorial descriptions of each medal in the display. For many of them the legend was something like "Bequest of Wyllys A. Betts" Gasp! I flipped to the Libertas Americana: "Bequest of Wyllys A. Betts" (however they phrased it). My word! I was looking at Wyllys Betts' own silver Libertas Americana! I started thinking back to what I knew about Betts. That he was a New Haven resident. That is where Yale is. It was the end of a long day, and a lot of the medals I didn't have time to more than glance at briefly. I remember, though, an Indian Peace Medal of George I. Never saw one of those before.

I don't know a thing about Betts' family life, but it certainly looks as though his entire Betts medal collection may be in the hands of Yale. I have down on my list to call Dr. Metcalf back and see what else I can found out.

When I got back to my hotel room I was still so stunned that I had to pick up the phone and call a couple of numismatic friends to share the news. Even though we gave a wonderful concert, the Betts medals were, numismatically speaking, the highlight of the trip.

Best Regards,

George

[VDB Coins]

I did indeed "rediscover" that the Betts Medal Collection was bequeathed to Yale (although it becomes obvious to anyone reading the Foreword to the Betts book, written by Lyman Low and William T.R. Marvin, who finished the Betts book after his untimely death). Dr. Metcalf was kind enough to send me a complete listing of the Betts bequest to Yale, more than 400 pieces in all, including a bronze Washington Before Boston, copper and silver Libertas Americanas, "The Seasons" medal, Sansom medals, Admiral Vernon medals, William Pitt medals, too many others to list. Wow what a great collection!

Best Regards,

George