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1777 Ben Franklin Medallion, Terra Cotta, By NINI

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Medals

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1777 Benjamin Franklin Medallion In Terra Cotta By Nini

1777 Benjamin Franklin "Nini" Terra Cotta Medallion, by Jean-Baptiste Nini, Choice Near Mint.
Betts-548, Fuld-FR.ME.NL.3. This large 4.5" (115 mm) high relief medallion of Franklin is made of Terra Cotta (ceramic clay). It was produced in France by the sculptor, Jean-Baptiste Nini during the height of Franklin's popularity there. Nini made a variety of different Franklin medallions in terra cotta for sale in both France and America. This variety has Franklin wearing his fur cap with the inscription, "B. Franklin - Americain." Nini has signed and dated the truncation of Franklin's bust, and added his arms as well. This medallion is a pleasing fired clay light brown in color and includes an original string loop for hanging on display. A removable, printed biography of Nini, in French, has been pasted to the otherwise plain back of the medallion. There are two edge chips on the blank back, which do not show from the front and a barely noticeable chip on the back portion of the front edge and is otherwise in excellent condition. In the John Ford Jr. two terra cotta plaques by Nini sold for $5,750 and a lesser quality piece for $3,220. An impressive, contemporary French tribute portrait of this always popular, Benjamin Franklin American statesman to France.

Jean-Baptiste Nini (1717-1786) was a French artist and medalist active in the mid to late 1700's. Most of his work consists of terra-cotta medallions. Forrer recounts in "Biographical Dictionary of Medallists" that several hundred of Nini's Benjamin Franklin terra-cotta medallions (in various designs) were shipped to America in 1779, but the ship was wrecked off the coast of France. Some of the cases containing the medallions were recovered, but they lay forgotten in a warehouse for nearly a century, until they were finally acquired by a collector who began marketing them in 1876.

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