Copper. 38.8mm. 31.1g. Plain edge. McLachlan-280, Breton-183. The following commentary was provided when this lot was offered as part of the Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals:

An extremely rare and remarkably early Canadian medal commemorating the 50th anniversary of William Dummer Powell and Anne Murray, who were married October 3rd, 1775. R.W. McLachlan writes in Canadian Numismatics (1886): “Mr. Powell was for number of years before his death Chief Justice of Upper Canada. He was a regular patriarch; his descendants are still numerous, and are scattered over the United States and Canada. Some sixty of these medals were struck for distribution among the relatives at the golden wedding. I have placed this medal as of the highest degree of rarity… .”

Examples were struck in copper and silver, plus a single example in gold. According to Warren Baker’s authoritative article on the Powell and Sutherland marriage medals published in Canada’s Money as part of the eight Coinage of the America’s Conference (1994), only 15 copper and four silver medals had been accounted for up to that point. Likely a few have come to light since then, but most probably remain in the hands of descendants or lost to time.

This is an attractive golden-brown survivor that shows signs of moderate handling, including a pinscratch through the E in OCTOBER and several noticeable rim dings. The imperfections are trivial relative to the rarity of this important offering, which, according to Baker “may be considered the first purely Canadian medal.”

Ex: Doug Robins (2013); Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals (Geoffrey Bell Auctions, 4/2022), lot 48, where it realized $1,416.00.