http://images2.bonhams.com/image?src=Images/live/2014-02/28/8940355-232-44.jpg&width=640&height=480&halign=l0&valign=t0&autosizefit=0
Wow.—-
What he said.
$351,000 actually seems like a bargain to me considering the historic value, as well as the variety and number of items. I hope a museum or library made the purchase, but the press release doesn’t list the buyer so I have my doubts.
I cannot tell if one of the items pictured is this:
Quote:
A brass seal base (handle absent) featuring the head of Liberty with the words LIBERTE above and a Phrygian cap below. Much speculation rests on this item. This particular piece might be considered one of the earliest Liberty designs for the United States of America. Simple in its appearance, this particular design is not known to have been officially granted for use, but has to be of exceptional importance within the early stages of American design within official government circles.
Jeremy Keith Hammond;102208 wrote:
I cannot tell if one of the items pictured is this:
"Granted"? By whom? And why would an American item spell the word LIBERTE when on other items Dupre obviously knew the English word was LIBERTY, based on other designs he did for Jefferson? The only major use I can think of for such an image of Liberty for a U.S. use would be for the coinage; the Coinage Act of 1792 required all coins to have an "impression emblematic of Liberty on the obverse."
Could the image in question have been for his Masonic lodge or some other French republican group with which he was connected, rather than something American? (Just speculation)
There is some resemblance between Dupre’s seal design and the Liberty head on the first silver coins issued by the U.S. mint:
http://coinmintages.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/flowing-hair-half-dime.jpg
This design is credited to Robert Scot, the same Philadelphia engraver who did the first great seal. I suppose he might have been trying, not as artistically, to copy Dupre’s concept.
