Libertas Americana Medals (1781)

About This Series

Conceived by Benjamin Franklin during his diplomatic mission to Paris and executed by the celebrated French engraver Augustin Dupré, the Libertas Americana medal stands among the most iconic pieces in all of American numismatics. Commissioned in 1782 to commemorate the pivotal American victories at Saratoga (1777) and Yorktown (1781), the medal served a dual diplomatic purpose: celebrating American independence while honoring the French alliance that made it possible. The obverse portrays Liberty as a youthful woman with flowing hair and a liberty cap on a pole, encircled by the date 4 JUIL. 1776 (July 4, 1776) and the legend LIBERTAS AMERICANA. The reverse presents one of the most sophisticated allegorical compositions in 18th-century medallic art — the infant Hercules, representing the young American nation, strangling two serpents (symbolizing the British armies defeated at Saratoga and Yorktown) while Minerva, representing France, shields him with her aegis from the attacking British leopard. Franklin presented original gold strikings to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, with silver examples distributed to French ministers and members of Congress. Original strikes were produced at the Paris Mint in gold (reportedly fewer than a dozen), silver, and bronze, all of which rank as major numismatic rarities today. The medal measures approximately 47 mm in diameter and remains one of the most frequently reproduced and collected American historical medals, with later restrikes and copies extending its legacy across two centuries of collecting.