1770 KING'S COLLEGE LITERARY SOCIETY MEDAL

NGC MS61 | USA, King's College (Columbia University), Literary Society, Silver Hand-Engraved Prize Medal, 1770, attributed to Elisha Gallaudet, awarded to Mr James Creighton (1751-1822), COLLEGII REGALIS NOVI EBORACI IN AMERICA PRÆMIUM LITERARIUM IACOBO CREIGHTON | IN • LUMINE • TUO • • VIDEBIMUS • LUMEN •, college seal designed by Reverend Samuel Johnson, with maternal figure of Alma Mater seated on throne at centre, surrounded by three infants, whom she teaches from book in outstretched hand. Radiant sun rises behind. Scroll reads "God's Light" in Hebrew and "God" in Hebrew in radiant border above. 1ST. PET . II . I . 2, in exergue, signature below, rev. EXIMIO • JUVENI • PROPTER • INSIGNES • IN • ARTIBUS • PROGRESSUS, Minerva standing holding spear, presents medal to a student dressed in academic robes, 1770 A.D. below, 33.56g, 64.5mm (Columbia Medals Collection, 5/227).

Established in 1768, the King's College Literary Society medal is the first civilian medal to have been awarded in America which is extant today. Only four examples are known to have survived from a believed 28 original pieces listed in the society's minutes book. An initial order of 4 was placed on 17 May 1767, followed by another of the same amount on 3 November. Each order at the cost of $8 was placed with the New York silversmith Elisha Gallaudet. Gallaudet is a recognisable name within numismatics for his contribution to the Continental Dollar of 1776, which is widely regarded as the first coin of the United States.

A further batch of 20 silver medals was ordered on 2 June 1769, placed by Mr Charles Evers of the society, to be engraved in London by silversmith Richard Rugg. Apart from the minor differences seen between the New York and London medals, due to their hand engraved nature, the Rugg examples also include the mark R.R. and the mark for sterling silver.

Of the four known medals, just three are engraved to recipients: this medal, awarded to James Creighton (1751-1822), a Loyalist lawyer from a well-established New York family, one to Gouverneur Morris, statesman and Founding Father; and one to Benjamin Moore, Bishop of New York, who administered Holy Communion to Alexander Hamilton on his deathbed. The Creighton medal also represents only the second example currently in private hands, two pieces having been acquired by the Museum of the City of New York and the Columbiana Collection at Columbia University.

The design of these medals was taken from the college seal, which was created in 1755 by the first college president Samuel Johnson. It shows the maternal figure of Alma Mater seated on a throne, surrounded by three infants, whom she is teaching from a book. The College's motto which translates to 'in thy light, shall we see light', taken from psalm 36:9, is also present. The reverse of the medals show Minerva presenting a medal to a student in academic robes.

The ordering of these medals from New York and from across the Atlantic, may at first seem unusual. Why was a relatively small college society looking as far afield as London? What it in fact reveals is the interconnected nature of Anglo-American life and society at this time. This was still an age when to be born in America was to be considered a British citizen. These young men therefore understood themselves a part of this colonial society and it is into this environment that James Creighton was born and raised.

However, James's life coincided with a period of seismic change for those living in North America. Born into a British colony under the rule of a British king, by the start of his early adult life America had broken with Britain and with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776 the nation was set on a new course.

The American Revolution altered his life decisively. The Creighton family were Loyalists, remaining faithful to the British Crown during the American Revolution. As a result James found himself on the wrong side of the political transformation. James, like many of his King's contemporaries, did not embrace independence easily, nor did he possess the political adaptability that allowed others to thrive in the new order.

This medal not only tells the story of James Creighton but also that of the foundations and early story of King's College, later Columbia University, and ultimately how both are inextricably linked to the War of Independence.

James Creighton was born in New York in 1751 into a family that had already been established in British North America for more than sixty years. The Creightons were not adventurers or frontiersmen but a professional and mercantile family. Their personal and professional ties therefore saw them linked to the central figures and events of colonial-era America and the early republic. However, like so many Loyalist families their importance within early-America has been sidelined and overlooked.

The family's American origins lay with James Crichton, a native of Scotland who arrived around 1690 and settled in Elizabethtown, New Jersey. A storekeeper by trade, he married an English widow who had come to America in the entourage of Chief Justice Bridget of New Jersey, anchoring the family early within colonial legal circles. Over the next generations the Creightons moved to New York City, intermarrying with Huguenot refugees, New England families, and members of the colonial elite. By the time James was born, the family had become thoroughly embedded in the social fabric of colonial New York. James's upbringing, including his academic education at King's College, reflects the advantages that came with such a position.

A movement began in 1746 to establish a college "for the instruction and education of youth in the learned languages and liberal arts and sciences". There was a widespread sense that too few Americans were educated to degree level, and it remained common for young men from affluent families to be sent to Britain for their schooling. Several notable figures who petitioned for independence and who later signed the Declaration, including Edward Rutledge, Thomas Lynch Jr and Benjamin Rush, were educated in this way.

New York, though a city of fewer than 20,000 inhabitants at the time, was seen as the natural site for such a college. Gouverneur Morris, writing to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, declared: "New York is the Center of English America & a Proper Place for a Colledge."

The college was established in 1754 by royal charter granted by George II, making it the first college in the province and one of the earliest in the country. Alongside royal patronage, the Church of England and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel played a major role in its foundation. This was to the dismay of some who objected to an American institution being so closely tied to the mother country.

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