Coinsarefun's Tokens and Medals

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1779 Rhode Island Ship Medal. Breen 1141, Betts 563, wreath below ship. Gem Uncirculated. This is the scarce and popular Horace M. Grant restrike of this popular issue, produced in bronze (a few were also issued in silver) in 1936. Perfectly struck, with no trace of post-strike damage or defect, as expected for the issue, the surfaces hard and a pleasing golden bronze hue that was antiqued to look old. As always, the planchet is slightly out-of-round, intentionally made such to aid in giving it the look of the period. This is really one of the best “restrikes” of any colonial coin ever produced, and it is one that we still see offered as genuine now and then. Presumably Grant suspected that might happen, and he placed his initials in tiny letters within the wave below Howe’s battleship on the obverse. Difficult to find these days, it’s reported that only a dozen or so were struck in silver, with perhaps 100-200 in bronze. Today, the restrikes are almost as tough as the originals (Breen calls the Grant copies “rare” in his Encyclopedia, and for an issue that was struck nearly three-quarters of a century ago