Medal US Daniel Morgan - Cowpens (Comitia Americana) 1781

This medal was originally struck by the Paris Mint in 1790, and later by the US Mint in and after 1839, to honor General Daniel Morgan for his victory over British forces at the Battle of the Cowpens, January, 1781. Any way you look at it, it is an exquisite piece.

Evaluating Daniel Morgan Battle of Cowpens medals is not easy. The original medals from the Revolutionary War era of US history are exceptionally valuable. The bronze specimen in our main picture (upper right and labelled (A) in our secondary picture) sold for $12000 US dollars by Stack's Bowers. You can see a page of this and other Comitial Americana medals at this Stack's Bowers link [PRESS HERE]. In addition to the early US mint strikings, later medals were produced during the latter 1900s, and these are not as valuable as the older pieces.

Very roughly, and keyed to (A), (B), (C), (D) in our secondary picture:

(A) STRIKING WITH ORIGINAL 1790 DIES:
worn or damaged: $3000 US dollars
well preserved: $8000
fully uncirculated: $15000

(B) STRIKING WITH COPIED DIES (c. 1840)
worn or damaged: $500 US dollars
well preserved: $3000
fully uncirculated: $5000

(C) MODERN (1980s) MINT PRODUCT
worn or damaged: $10 US dollars
well preserved: $25
fully uncirculated: $50

(D) MODERN COPY STRUCK BY A PRIVATE MINT
worn or damaged: $1 US dollars
well preserved: $4
fully uncirculated: $10

The message of this page is that you must consult a professional or skilled amateur numismatist (a person who studies coins) to carefully authenticate and classify you Daniel Morgan medal. It cannot be done over the Internet using images. Factors such as quality of strike, small die diagnostics, size, metallic composition, and weight all play into the value. It is usually fairly easy to identify the private mint copies, which lack detail, but identifying the others variations is not a simple matter.
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