1860 HK-10, Heenan-Sayers Heavyweight Championship Dollar

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

HK-10 is the Heenan portrait medal of 1860 in white metal, struck from the same dies as the 34 mm copper HK-9 by F. B. Smith & Hartmann of New York after the American fighter came home from England. The obverse presents Heenan's bust facing right, titled "the Champion of America." The reverse, within an open wreath, presents the April 1860 bout as an international contest for the title of world champion. Professional boxing at the time was governed by the London ring rules of 1838, under which men still fought with bare knuckles; those rules had replaced the code drawn up by the English champion Jack Broughton in 1743. Gloved contests came only with the Queensberry Rules of 1866, and professionals did not settle on them until 1892, when James J. Corbett took the heavyweight title from John L. Sullivan at New Orleans.

Cross References

HK-10; PCGS #642020; NGC #850017