JAB-04unl ARSENAL MEDAL WITHOUT SUN / BLANK REV Copper

28mm Unlisted in Musante. Possibly unique.

Bolen sold the dies for JAB-3, JAB-4, and JAB-5 to George B. Mason of New York, sometime prior to November of 1862. At that time, mules for the Arsenal and Young America dies began showing up in the auctions of William Elliot Woodward. From the five dies sold, there are ten combinations. Bolen intended the dies for three of these combinations, leaving seven "instant rarities" created by Mason. Examples of all seven are known to exist and are listed in Musante's book as M/E-1 through M/E-7. All are very rare. Only six examples of the more common ones are thought to exist.

What Neil did not take into consideration was that Mason could have used the dies to create five additional uniface varieties. The piece pictured is proof that this was in fact done. The example is quite thick and is clearly not a damaged, defaced, or planed down medal. Since Musante's research did not uncover any examples in the Woodward sales, they are undoubtedly very rare and possibly unique. I suspect there are uniface examples for the other four dies out there. If encountered, they are worthy of a premium offer.