1873 Assay Commission Medal - JK-AC-12, Silver, Archimedes, J. Pollock

Coin Details

Auction Record

$600 SP63 03-25-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

The 1873 Assay Commission medal JK-AC-12 in silver is a presentation striking of the Archimedes design from the year of the transformative Coinage Act. The silver composition lends particular poignancy to this medal, as the Coinage Act of 1873 effectively demoted silver from its centuries-old status as a primary monetary metal in the United States. The very silver from which this medal is struck was, in a sense, a casualty of the legislative changes enacted during the year of its production. The Archimedes figure on the silver JK-AC-12 achieves a luminous beauty in the precious metal, with the scientist's robes and instruments rendered in sharp detail against the reflective field. William Barber's engraving captures a moment of intellectual engagement — Archimedes examining or weighing metals — that directly parallels the work of the Assay Commission members who received these medals as tokens of their service. Silver presentation strikings from 1873 carry enhanced numismatic significance because of their association with the "Crime of '73," as silver advocates would later characterize the Coinage Act. Whether any contemporaries recognized the irony of presenting silver medals in the year that silver was effectively demonetized is undocumented, but the historical coincidence gives this piece a narrative richness that transcends its artistic merits.

Rarity Notes

JK-AC-12 (1873) in silver. "Archimedes, J. Pollock" design. Silver strikings from the year of the Coinage Act of 1873 carry special historical significance.

Cross References

PCGS #518439; JK-AC-12; 1873 Assay Commission