Thomas Jefferson and American Numismatics

Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de Saint-Memin (1770–1852). Engraved copper-plate of “physiognotrace” portrait of Thomas Jefferson, 1804 or 1805.

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826). Notes on the State of Virginia. Paris, [1785]. This copy of the first edition of the only book Jefferson wrote contains an inscription by him to Dr. Richard Price, a British liberal and friend of America.

Sophocles. Tragedies. Cambridge: John Field, 1665. Instead of signing the books in his library or pasting in an ex libris, Thomas Jefferson had the habit of writing T I (for T J) on page 121. Although most of his library was sold to the Library of Congress after its holdings were destroyed in the War of 1812, many items he once possessed, like this volume, are in other collections.

Benjamin Duvivier (1728–1819). John Eager Howard. Bronze medal, 1789. This is one of eleven medals voted by Congress for award to soldiers who distinguished themselves in the Revolutionary War. Along with Daniel Morgan and William Washington, Howard was honored for his actions at the Battle of Cowpens in 1781. Because there was no press capable of striking large medals in America, it was one of the duties of Franklin and then Jefferson to commission Parisian artists who regularly worked for the French mint. In the absence of accurate portraits of the three men, the obverse images put the emphasis on action rather than portraiture, and the reverses are purely epigraphic. Even so, it took eight years, until just before Jefferson’s return to America, to get them struck.

Joseph Wright (1756–1793). Henry Lee. Bronzed lead cast of trial strike, 1793. When the war hero medals arrived in America in 1790 for presentation to the individual recipients and to Washington, it was discovered that no medal had been ordered for Henry Lee (1756–1818; Class of 1773). Lee appealed personally to Thomas Jefferson, who was then Secretary of State, and Jefferson directed Joseph Wright, just appointed as engraver of the new mint in Philadelphia, to make a medal as a replacement. Wright told Jefferson that he could not guarantee the quality of the die, and, owing to the primitive equipment available, the die broke after making only a couple of lead trial strikes.

Engraved silver medal for Henry Lee. This medal was probably produced by an American silversmith after the efforts of the Philadelphia Mint failed. The inscription is engraved on a silver disk about the size of a silver dollar. The decorative rim was with the disk when it was sold at auction in 1935; the ribbon and pinback were added afterward. The engraved nature of the piece and the addition of the rim make it difficult to establish the authenticity of this medal.

College of New Jersey [Princeton University]. Essay prize medal awarded to Joseph Clay Jr., Class of 1784. Engraved gold. This piece is typical of the hand-engraved medals produced in America in the late eighteenth century. The obverse bears a depiction of Nassau Hall, the principal building of The College of New Jersey, as Princeton University was originally called.

John Reich (1768–1833). Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal, 1801. Bronze restrike. John Reich (1768–1833). Thomas Jefferson Indian Peace Medal, 1801. Bronze restrike.

John Reich. James Madison Indian Peace Medal, 1809. Silver original, given to Chief Keokuk of the Sauk tribe. It was only during the presidency of James Madison (Class of 1771) that the mint was capable of striking a large medal on a solid flan.