^Lot 1528 Great Britain, gilt copper alloy Admiral Vernon medal, 1739, Vernon / Porto Bello, extremely rare, e

Great Britain, gilt copper alloy Admiral Vernon medal, 1739, Vernon / Porto Bello, extremely rare, ex-Adams (Plate). AC-PBv1A. 19.67 grams; 39 mm. Sharp UNC with spectacular thick gilding, very bright, with only a few small spots worn down to the copper, RRR in AC (just three examples reported), very bold-relief bust of Vernon that Adams' tag calls a "fine medallic execution," certainly among the most beautiful of Adams' Vernon medals. The initials S.B. on the bust truncation supposedly stand for Samuel Bull, as indicated by Glendining in 1987. XRF: 69.92% gold, 27.49% copper, 1.37% zinc. Pedigreed to the John Adams Collection (with his handwritten tag), plated on page 52 of Medallic Portraits of Admiral Vernon (2010), by Adams and Chao, and to the Glendining auction of November 1987 (lot 16).