Michigan auctioneer Steve Davis is well-known for introducing fresh material to the market in his auctions, and his Numismatic Auctions LLC Sale 67, from Jan. 28 to 29, has some exciting discoveries.

The auction has more than 1,000 lots, led by a congressional gold medal. It is one of only four struck in gold for presentation to the last surviving veterans of the Civil War in 1956, nearly a century after the war ended. Its purpose was to honor the last surviving veterans who served in the Union or the Confederate forces, with the enabling law allowing for presentation at a veteran’s home “or at any other suitable place with appropriate ceremonies.” 

The law provided broad discretion for the designs, and the Gilroy Roberts obverse features the busts of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, while the reverse bears flag motifs.

This offered gold medal was presented to Walter Washington Williams, who said he was the last veteran of the Civil War and gave his age as 117 before his death. A Dec. 20, 1959, obituary in The New York Times reported that “Mr. Williams’ contention that he had served in the Confederate Army stirred a storm of controversy in recent months. A newspaper story said a check had failed to find evidence to support the claim.” Then Senate majority leader and future U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson said at the time that the death “seals the door on a great but tragic era.” Auctioneer Davis calls Williams “a famous yet undocumented mystery in the annals of history.”

This medal was first offered by the Williams family at the 1976 American Numismatic Association auction by Stack’s. Davis said that, of the four gold medals issued, “The only other medal of its kind currently in the public domain appeared in a NASCA sale of 1978, which was the William Lundy medal. The Albert Woolson specimen now resides in the Smithsonian Institution via the Sons of the Union Veterans, with the fourth and final medallion being destroyed, according to Stack’s.” Davis calls his hefty offering, “An impressive and historic jewel, weighing in at over 10 ounces of solid gold.”

Trials from Sinnock estate

Another interesting lot is from the estate of John R. Sinnock, the eighth chief engraver of the U.S. Mint, who served in that role from 1925 to 1947, and consists of five uniface medallic splashers and trial strikes in white medal. Three have a bronzed finish application, and this group is likely contemporary with his design for the Roosevelt dime, first issued in 1946. Sinnock would also design the Franklin half dollar, introduced in 1948.

Each piece is trimmed, with slightly irregular edges, as made. Three were produced for the Princeton University bicentennial depicting Nassau Hall, another was for the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation and one depicts Fred M. Vinson, secretary of the Treasury. Davis grades each About Uncirculated to Uncirculated, explaining, “pleasing and historic, these would make a wonderful exhibit or medallic ensemble if paired with examples of the actual issued medals, which on their own merits are quite scarce.”

Laura Gardin Fraser plaster

The past several auctions by the firm have included rare plaster models from artist Laura Gardin Fraser, and another will cross the block on Jan. 28, along with a historical archive.

Davis calls the original alabaster plaster model with olive green applied finish “likely unique and previously unknown.” Measuring 9.125 inches in diameter, it has a small drilled hole for suspension on the back and is unsigned, but marked FINAL on the back. The design was produced by Fraser for the reverse of the 1932 George Washington Bicentennial commemorative medal.

Davis writes, “The design depicts a magnificent, stylized Lady Liberty with radiate headdress, in likeness to the Statue of Liberty,” with an eagle with outstretched wings resting on her shoulder. Liberty holds a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, with 13 stars above and the legend PROCLAIM LIBERTY THROUGHOUT ALL THE LAND.

Joining the medal are two of the resulting production medals featuring the design, along with two original studio photos of Fraser in her studio. In one she poses with a life-sized sculpture of a Royal Elk, perhaps a commissioned work for the Hartford Insurance Company.

Davis calls the group “a virtual time capsule of one of America’s most famous coin designers,” adding that it is “from the estate of close Fraser family friend, sculptor and photographer Vincent DeMeo.”

For bidders curious about comparables, a similar Fraser coin design archive for the 1932 Washington quarter dollar competition from the same estate realized $10,000 in the firm’s December 2020 sale.

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