(1796) Silver Medal Castorland Restrike

Coin Details

Description

Struck in silver with a reeded edge, weighing 15 grams at 32 mm diameter, this Castorland restrike cataloged as W-9145 and PCGS #518539 was produced using original or copy dies sometime after the initial circa-1796 production run of the Castorland medal. The Castorland medal commemorates the French colonial settlement established in 1793 along the Black River in northern New York State by a company of investors organized as La Compagnie de New York, who purchased 630,000 acres of wilderness with the intention of creating an agricultural refuge for French aristocrats displaced by the Revolution. The medal's design features Ceres, goddess of the harvest, on the obverse and a frontier scene on the reverse, imagery reflecting the colony's ambitious but ultimately unrealistic agricultural aspirations. Silver restrikes are distinguished from original bronze strikings by their precious-metal composition and reeded edge treatment, characteristics that mark them as collector-oriented productions rather than the promotional pieces originally distributed to company shareholders. The restriking history of Castorland medals spans much of the nineteenth century, with multiple generations of restrikes produced in various metals as collector interest grew. Scarce as a silver restrike, this composition represents a middle tier of rarity between the very rare bronze originals and the more available later copper restrikes, offering collectors a precious-metal example of one of the most historically evocative medal designs in the Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues series.

Rarity Notes

Scarce silver restrike.

Cross References

W-9145