(1720) Tin Medal Betts-134, John Law

Coin Details

Auction Record

$14,400 AU50 08-24-2023 Stack's Bowers

Description

This medal, Betts-134, commemorates John Law in tin around 1720. The tin composition was used for inexpensive commemoratives intended for wide distribution during and after the Mississippi Bubble crisis. The medal documents the public fascination with John Law, who went from being the most celebrated financier in Europe to a reviled figure virtually overnight. Law fled France in December 1720 and spent the rest of his life in exile, dying in Venice in 1729. The dissemination of commemorative medals through diplomatic channels, military distribution, and commercial sale created a network of information about New World events that complemented printed news and official correspondence. Tin medals mocking or commemorating Law were produced in large quantities, particularly in the Netherlands, reflecting the widespread public interest in the collapse of the most ambitious financial scheme Europe had yet witnessed.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Tin composition indicates mass-market distribution.

Cross References

Betts-134