Diplomatic Medal

This medal is not formally part of the Comitia Americana series, but it was made at the Paris Mint during the same period as a reciprocal gift to France. Following Thomas Jefferson’s retirement from his role as Minister to France in 1790, France presented Jefferson with a medal to honor his service there. The United States did not have a similar honor in place and thus created this medal under Jefferson's supervision and presented it to the retiring French minister to the United States, Marquis de La Luzerne, creating a diplomatic exchange. 

Augustin Dupre designed the medal which depicts the newly adopted Great Seal of the United States on the obverse. On the reverse, a female allegorical figure representing America receives in her left hand a cornucopia from Mercury who stands to her right, representing Commerce.

Charles Thomson's design for the Great Seal of the United States, 1782Reports of Committees of Congress; Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention, 1774-1789, Record Group 360; National Archives