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Extremely Rare MACo 10-pc Framed Remington 6-inch Medallions (103123)

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Exonumia - Medals Start Price:2,500.00 USD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
Extremely Rare MACo 10-pc Framed Remington 6-inch Medallions  (103123)
SOLD
2,500.00USD+ (625.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2020 Apr 19 @ 19:17UTC-7 : PDT/MST
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This is a very rare and complete set of ten, framed, six-inch medallions created for the 21 Club Restaurant in New York City by Medallic Art Company in 1971. Each frame displays a 6-inch diameter, silver-plated copper galvano-positive version of a set of ten commemorative medals representing works by the famous Western sculptor, Frederick Remington. These 6-inch medallions are mounted on a brown-tanned leather background in a 10.5 x 13-inch, antique-silvered wooden frame.

Medallic Art lore is that MACo president Bill Louth would walk from his Manhattan office to the 21 Club for lunch and soon struck up a friendship with the owners. They developed a plan to promote the 21 Club's vaunted collection of original Frederick Remington artwork by producing a set of 10 unique medallions in bronze and silver in 1.75- and 2.5-inch sizes. Each of the pieces would portray a distinctive sculpture by Frederick Remington on the obverse (front side), and a different Remington artwork on the reverse overlain by a portrait of the artist himself. Sculptor Avard Fairbanks was chosen to design the entire ten-piece set. The obverse of each design also includes a small incuse circle bearing an image of the distinctive iron gate that has become a signature logotype for the 21 Club.

The medals were sold in green-velvet-lined boxed sets to Club 21 patrons and Medallic Art Company customers until the limited edition was exhausted. But that isn't the end of the story.

A set of 10 six-inch copper galvano-negatives was created from original obverse plaster models, and these were used to reproduce fifty sets of 6-inch copper galvano-positives. These were trimmed round, silver plated, and mounted in frames along with a 1.75-inch, silver-plated bronze version of the corresponding reverse design mounted at the bottom of the frame. These rare sets are rumored to have been sold to Western aficionados such as Bob Hope and Gene Autry, among others.

This set was sold back to the Medallic Art Company Archive Collection in around 2008 by an anonymous, original owner in Oklahoma. It was then acquired by a private entity in the 2018 post-bankruptcy liquidation of Northwest Territorial Mint / Medallic Art Company. The Remington artworks represented in the set include The Bronco Buster, The Sergeant, The Fallen Rider, Coming Through the Rye, The Scalp, The Rattlesnake, The Cheyenne, The Norther, The Mountain Man, and The Outlaw. The full set of ten frames is in good condition, although some of the small medallions show a bit of tarnish and thinning of the silver plating. Altogether, this is a stunningly beautiful presentation of both the work of Frederick Remington and Medallic Art Company. We have never seen a set like this at auction, and it is unlikely for another set to appear on the market any time soon.

Provenance: The Fred Holabird Collection
Country (if not USA):
State: New York
City/County: New York
Date: 1971