1789 (ca. 1792) Twigg Medal. Musante GW-38, Baker-65. White Metal. MS-63 (PCGS).35.6 mm. 278.7 grains. Light satiny gray surfaces throughout. The reverse is peppered with darker flecks, but most arent obvious without magnification. A trace of trivial but apparently stable pesting is noted at the truncation. Light handling but no serious marks. What at first looks to be a shallow abrasion on the reverse at the E of STATES is more likely a natural flan depression that did not strike out.<p>Many Twigg medals have ghostly irregular shapes at their centers speaking to a consistent peculiarity with the flans which we have realized relates to the casting of the planchets. These were produced in the style of cast clothing buttons of the period, with a casting sprue at the center of the flan. This feature usually gets struck out, and is not visible on this example, though it is frequently seen on Twigg medals. According to Neil Musante, Charles Twigg was a Birmingham, England-based toy maker. He made very few medallic works, and this is the only known one devoted to Washington. The first sale of a Twigg medal we are aware of in the United States was in the May 1860 Cogan sale, where it was described as "excessively rare" and sold for $6 to prominent collector John McCoy.From the Richard August Collection.
