Newman Portal Search: Simon Bolivar, Three Countries, Three Medals

This week a Newman Portal user searched for “Simon Bolivar Medal.” Wikipedia provides the context.  Bolivar (1783-1830), “also colloquially [known] as El Libertador, was a Venezuelan military and political leader who played a leading role in the establishment of Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Panama as sovereign states, independent of Spanish rule.” It’s no surprise that contemporary medallic tributes honor such a leader, and Newman Portal can be used to identify three of them. An 1825 Peruvian example appeared in a Stack’s 2007 sale, featuring a bust facing right with the inscriptions SIMON BOLIVAR LIBR. D COLOMB. Y DEL PERU and EL CUZCO A SU LIBERTADOR. Another example, from Colombia, is found in the Medina collection sold by Almanzar’s in April, 1971, lot 179. This features two angels on the obverse with the inscriptions A / SIMON BOLIVAR / LIBERTADOR DE COLOMBIA / Y DEL PERU / EL CONGRESO DE COLOMBIA / ANO DE / MDCCCXXV. Finally, a third Bolivar medal is listed in the Johnson & Jensen sale of December 1978, lot 224. Johnson catalogs it as Bolivian, “1825, 1 5/8-inch (42mm) bronze, reeded edge. City of Potosi shows its gratitude to the Liberator. Uniformed bust facing right, inscription around border. So-called proclamation piece.” Such pieces are akin to those honoring American revolutionary heroes, and offer a way to “collect history” for substantially less funds than the American equivalents.Link to Stack’s Gund III catalog on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlotsAucCoId=3&AuctionId=517511&page=66Link to Almanzar’s Medina sale catalog: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlotsAucCoId=510226&AuctionId=518415&page=26Link to Johnson & Jensen December 1978 sale: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlotsAucCoId=511036&AuctionId=518008&page=13