| Description |
Sprengel's Rare 1784 History of the Revolution, Depicting the Continental Currency DollarBerlin: Bey Haude und Spener, (1784). Second edition, with the author's initials corrected on the title page and the date 1784 added to the bases of three plates. 12mo, original paper covers imitative of vellum; plain spine. (8), 182, (2) pages; finely engraved allegorical frontispiece; exceptional hand-tinted folding map of the North American colonies by Daniel Friedrich Sotzmann based on earlier work by William Faden; 12 finely engraved plates by artist Daniel Chodowiecki, engraved by Daniel Berger, depicting events from the Revolutionary War bound in throughout; finely engraved plate by Berger depicting five Revolutionary War figures; an extraordinary double-plate by Berger depicting both the Libertas Americana medal and the Continental Currency dollar; and three vividly hand-tinted plates depicting the American flag and pennant, Gen. Washington with a guard, and a sharpshooter and infantryman. The Sprengel work has been recognized for some time for including a very early depiction of both the Libertas Americana medal and the Continental Currency dollar. Eric P. Newman had drawn the attention of the numismatic community to the volume in 1984, discussing it in the Colonial Newsletter. More recently, Eric P. Newman and Maureen Levine, in an outstanding article on early references to the Continental Currency pieces published in the July 2014 edition of The Numismatist, demonstrated that a slightly different rendition of this image was first used in Sprengel's Historisch-genealogischer Calender published the year before, in 1783. This small volume, printed in Berlin and entirely in German, manages not only to be a charming and interesting history of the just-concluded Revolutionary War, but is also of substantial importance in the ongoing discussions and debates about the nature of the Continental Currency dollars. Any contemporary reference to these pieces becomes important from the simple fact that few such references exist. When the reference also includes a highly skillful rendering of not only the Continental Currency dollar but the Libertas Americana medal as well, it rightfully takes its place as among the most significant early books related to the numismatics of this country. This copy is well-preserved, with some moderate wear to the spine and only minimal browning. Very good or better. Estimate $5,000. Ex: Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society.
Heritage Auctions 11/2018 (Newman XI), lot15388 (realized $4560).
Heritage link: http://www.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1283&lotIdNo=11042 |
