Lusterrules So-Called Dollars

Owner Comments:

On April 17th, 1860, one of the most famous bare-knuckle heavy-weight championship bouts took place at Farnborough in Hampshire, England between American John C. Heenan and World Champion Thomas Sayers of England. The fight lasted for 42 rounds and over two hours before the police, who had arrived to put a stop to the fight, were seen approaching from the edge of the field where the bout was being held. This caused everyone in attendance including Heenan & Sayers to flee the scene and the bout to be declared a draw. Upon Heenan’s return to America, medals were struck to commemorate the event by Smith and Hartmann of New York City. One of the medals featured a bust of Heenan on the obverse, and the other Sayers. Both shared the same reverse and each type was struck in both white metal and copper. This piece is a copper example of the Sayers medal. Its surfaces exhibit a pleasing original brown copper color, most likely from long term storage in a paper envelope. It has been graded MS-64 and is 1 of only 8 that have been graded by NGC. Only 1 has been graded higher at MS-65. The overall rarity is R7 (11-20 known).