1216

Lima, Peru, silver-plated bronze essai medal, 1824, Ayacucho, by engraver Manuel Villavicencio Gonza

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Exonumia - Medals Start Price:1,600.00 USD Estimated At:2,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
Lima, Peru, silver-plated bronze essai medal, 1824, Ayacucho, by engraver Manuel Villavicencio Gonza
SOLD
Sign In To View Winning Bid
This item SOLD at 2022 May 05 @ 19:25UTC-4 : AST/EDT
By registering for our auction, you agree to the terms and conditions.
Lima, Peru, silver-plated bronze essai medal, 1824, Ayacucho, by engraver Manuel Villavicencio Gonzalez, unique in silver plate, NGC AU details / cleaned. Fonrobert-unl. 27.06 grams; 36x33mm. Obverse: Bolivar in uniform facing right within legend . A SU LIBERTADOR SIMON BOLIVAR . above and Ml. Vo. Go. below; Reverse: arms of Peru within legend EL PERU RESTAURADO EN AYACUCHO ANO DE 1824 . ; Edge: plain. High-relief bust with minor rub on the high points for the details grade, minor contact marks and hairlines on the silvery surfaces, russet-toned reverse with muted luster there. This medal engraved by Manuel Villavicencio is among the rarest of the Simon Bolivar medals from the period. In February of 1825 the Constituent Congress of Peru charged Hipolito Unanue, then President of the Government Council, to commission the Lima Mint to strike a medal in honor of Simon Bolivar as Liberator of Peru. In a letter from Hipolito Unanue to Simon Bolivar, Unanue tells of a great dispute between the engravers Atanasio Davalos and Manuel Villavicencio concerning the best design. Even though Davalos’ design was the adopted one (see next lot for type), several “samples” of the Villavicencio design accompanied Unanue’s letter so that Bolivar could consider both designs. Other documents from the time indicate some fifty gold medals from both Davalos and Villavicencio were struck (the exact proportion unknown) and sent to Bolivar for him to distribute along with the corresponding signed diplomas. There is no mention in historical records of the Villavicencio medal being struck in other metals, which adds to the mystery and rarity of the current piece. In addition to this silver-plated bronze piece, we have been able to identify only two Villavicencio specimens in gold, one in the Lima Mint Museum and another in the Robert L. Ross collection held at Princeton University; one in silver; one in bronze auctioned in Bogota in 2009; and one uniface trial strike (also in bronze); all of the non-gold examples in private hands. (Historical background and census courtesy of Carlos E. Bacalao-Fleury.) NGC #6288566-001.

Please use this link to verify the NGC certification number