Stack’s Bowers Galleries’ March 25 offering of Part I of the Richard Margolis Collection surpassed expectations, realizing $2.78 million across 252 lots. The collection was assembled over 60 years and leading bidding was a 1779 John Stewart at Stony Point medal, listed as Betts-567 in the reference book to the group of medals collected as the Comitia Americana series.

Graded Mint State 62 by Professional Coin Grading Service, it is the only confirmed example in private hands. Its sale at $900,000 made it the most expensive bronze medal ever sold at auction, along with the most expansive 18th century medal and the most valuable Paris Mint medal, according to Stack’s Bowers.

The Stewart medal was awarded by the Continental Congress to Major John Stewart for actions at Stony Point on the Hudson River, and another bronze example resides in the New York Historical Society.

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