100499 | UNITED STATES & BRAZIL. President Epitácio M. Pessoa bronze Medal.

100499 | UNITED STATES & BRAZIL. President Epitácio M. Pessoa bronze Medal. Issued 1919. Commemorating his Visit to the United States (77mm, 207.50 g, 12h). By P. Manship.

 

Concordia flying right, holding olive branches and with eponymous banner trailing; view of the western hemisphere, prominently displaying the United States and Brazil, in background / Scroll inscribed TO / COMMEMORATE / THE VISIT OF THE / PRESIDENT ELECT / OF BRAZIL / EPITACIO / PESSOA / TO THE / UNITED STATES / OF AMERICA / MCMXIX in eleven lines; garlanded cornuacopiae above; allegories of trade standing facing, holding purse and caduceus (on the left) and scroll and scales (on the right); below, steam ship sailing right between two dolphins. Edge: Plain.

 

Cf. Smithsonian no. 1965.16.84 (for an example presented to the museum by Manship himself). Choice Extremely Fine. Yellow-brown surfaces, with high relief on the obverse; some minor spotting and roughness. A very rare and interesting piece of a desirable medalist. Far superior to the Smithsonian piece.

 

Epitácio Pessoa served as the 11th President of Brazil from 1919-1922, coming to the presidency in an unusual manner. Former president Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves had won the 1918 election with an astounding 99.1% of the vote, but was stricken with the Spanish flu during 1918's global pandemic of influenza, was unable to be sworn in, and ultimately died in January 1919. His vice-president-elect, Delfim Moreira da Costa Ribeiro was sworn in, though health issues surrounded him as well. Having successfully negotiated for Brazil's interests at the Treaty of Versailles, Pessoa defeated Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira in a snap election to be Brazil's next president–with Delfim Moreira being relegated to vice-president–without Pessoa having even left France.

 

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