Stack’s Bowers Galleries set a record for an American historical medal at auction when it sold the only gold Daniel Morgan at Cowpens medal, struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 1839, for $960,000 on April 4.

It flew past its estimate of $250,000 to $500,000 and sold to an anonymous phone bidder after six minutes of bidding.

Stack’s Bowers explained, “The Continental Congress initially authorized a Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to General Daniel Morgan shortly after his important victory at the 1781 Battle of Cowpens. The unique medal was the product of a special authorization by the United States Congress, signed into law by President Andrew Jackson in 1836.”

The original gold medal given to Gen. Morgan was struck in Paris in 1789, but was stolen in 1818 and not recovered. Morgan’s grandson Morgan Neville sought a replacement for nearly two decades and ultimately this replacement medal was struck and presented to Neville’s son in 1841. It remained in the family for several subsequent generations, and the catalog entry observed, “This is the medal his decades of persistence achieved, the only example struck, the only gold Comitia Americana medal in private hands, and the only Congressional Gold Medal ever authorized by two separate Acts of Congress.”

The cataloger was not shy in applying superlatives, writing on its beauty: “Struck in impressive relief and superlative detail, this medal is the finest medallic effort of its age and, perhaps, any other,” and on its rarity concluding, “As the only gold Comitia Americana medal that remains privately owned, it represents the pinnacle of the American historical medal field and one of the most significant medallic properties we have ever offered.”

Only six congressional gold medals were originally awarded and struck for actions in the American Revolution — four of them are in museum collections, while two of the original medals, those awarded to Morgan and Capt. John Paul Jones, are both lost.

The subject offering was graded Specimen 63 by Professional Coin Grading Service and was accompanied by its original red leather with crushed purple velvet interior U.S. Mint case of issue that protected the medal over the years.

Stack’s Bowers numismatist John Kraljevich said after the sale, “The last time a Congressional Gold Medal struck for valor in the Revolutionary War was sold at public auction was 1978, when Gen. Anthony Wayne’s medal for the Battle of Stony Point brought a world record $51,000.”

That medal is now at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, on loan from the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

“Not only is this market performing at a record-breaking pace, but the competition to own the best of the best continues to grow,” Kraljevich added.

Writing in their 2007 book Comitia Americana and Related Medals, John W. Adams and Anne E. Bentley said that while the medal’s designer, Augustin Dupre, is best-known for the Libertas Americana medal that inspired the early coin designs of the Philadelphia Mint, his Morgan medal can be considered a close second in terms of quality. They praised the battle scene at Cowpens as being “charged with energy and replete with details,” explaining, “The illusion of depth is a tribute to his technical virtuosity.”

The side intended to be the obverse shows Morgan on horseback leading an infantry charge toward the retreating British cavalry on the left, another cavalry charge in the background. The authors write, “There is a wealth of details in this medal — bodies and equipment strewn about; panic in the faces of the fleeing British; and in a touch of poetic license, an Indian poised to dispatch a fallen British soldier.”

Adams and Bentley describe the reverse: “A semi-nude Indian female, an allegorical figure used by Europeans to represent America, reaches from the left to place a crown of laurels on the head of Morgan in uniform standing on the right.”

They comment, “The hero strikes a modest pose, bowing slightly to receive his accolade and leaning on a grounded sword held in his right hand, with implements of war in the background.”

A silver example of the Morgan medal struck at the Paris Mint sold for $115,000 at a November 2019 Stack’s Bowers auction, and it had once held the world record price for an American historical medal, realizing $80,500 in May 2001.

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