BOSTON—For nearly two centuries, the French descendants of Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette have carefully guarded a gold medal given to him by the family of George Washington, allowing it to be seen only a handful of times by the public.
Now they've decided the family's future could be more valuable than its past.
The 1 1/2-inch medal of an eagle surrounded by a wreath will be put up for auction next week and is expected to fetch $4 million to $10 million.
The return to America of the medal and the prospect of its sale have captivated historians, who marvel at the father-son bond between Washington and Lafayette and what that friendship meant for a then fledging nation.
"(The medal) just really brings you close to the historical moment, because it symbolizes the relationship between these two extraordinary figures, without whom the American nation might not have come into existence," said Louise Mirrer, president of the New-York Historical Society.
The medal was passed down by Washington's adopted daughter to Lafayette during the Frenchman's triumphal return to America in 1824 -- a quarter-century after Washington's death, and nearly a half-century after Lafayette volunteered to leave his native land and serve the American war cause at age 19.
For much of the past two centuries, the relic known as the Washington-Lafayette Cincinnati Medal has remained inside the family home in Paris.
When Lafayette's descendants approached
The medal's value as a symbol of the Washington-Lafayette relationship "sent shivers up my spine," Redden said.
The piece has been publicly exhibited just five times in its 224-year history -- most recently in France in 1976, and just once in America, in Chicago in 1893. It is currently on exhibit at Sotheby's in New York and will be the only item on the block at an auction Dec. 11.
In advance of the sale, Lafayette's great-great-great grandson, Arnaud Meunier du Houssoy, came to the United States with the medal and toured several places of significance for Lafayette and Washington.
On the tour's last stop last Thursday, a handler carried the medal in a carefully guarded briefcase as du Houssoy visited Boston's Bunker Hill memorial, where Lafayette in 1825 helped lay the cornerstone for a monument commemorating the battle.
Du Houssoy also visited Washington's Virginia home at Mount Vernon, and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the two men first met.
In an interview during the Bunker Hill visit, du Houssoy said the medal has remained protected in a gilt wood frame on a living room wall of his family's home in Paris.
Over the years, details about the artifact faded from family memory, which prompted du Houssoy to embark on a personal research project three years ago. He sifted through historic books and letters between Lafayette and Washington, learning how close they were, and how important the medal was to both.
That got him thinking, and he suggested to his parents that the family home might not be the best place for the heirloom. "It's like an unknown object. And we think that although it has been in our family for 180 years, it was a medal created for Washington, so it belongs more in America than in France," said du Houssoy, a father of three and investment banker.
An auction, he believed, could help the family pay for his children's college education, and cover other family needs. And, after talking to Sotheby's, he concluded an auction would likely yield a buyer who would put the treasure in a museum or on tour.
"It was a very quick decision" to sell, he said before ascending the 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. "We hope now it will be seen by many more people."
Redden estimates the auction value at $4 million to $10 million, but said there could easily be a surprise. For example, four British-captured American regimental flags from the Revolutionary War fetched a higher-than-expected $17.4 million at a Sotheby's auction last year, well above Redden's estimated pre-sale value of $4 million to $10 million.
The medal grew out of the Society of the Cincinnati, a group that Washington and Lafayette helped found after the war to maintain the Revolution's ideals.
Society members were presented eagle medals. Washington's was designed to his specifications by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, who also designed Washington D.C.'s street grid.
Inset into the eagle's breast is an enamel rendering of two Roman senators presenting a sword to the farmer-turned-statesman Cincinnatus, with a Latin inscription whose meaning is appropriate to Lafayette's and Washington's legacies alike: "He left everything to serve the republic."
