1799 (ca. 1800) Victor Sine Clade Medal. Musante GW-76, Baker-164. White Metal. VF Details--Graffiti (PCGS).56 mm. Somewhat dusky pewter gray with some microgranular texture on the obverse. Fairly even in tone with numerous handling marks, fine old scratches and rim marks. These medals are rarely ever seen, and the few that exist mostly exhibit evidence of aggressive use (and abuse). In more than a decade of our sales records there are only three, including this. Our November 2019 sale revealed the Bushnell-Baker medal for the first time in more than a century. It was the finest of the three, graded EF-45, but still microporous, scratched and holed. It realized more than $13,000. The most recent to sell was the 1975 Altman-Haffner sale medal, later owned by Gilbert Steinberg. That was similar to this, with many marks, general roughness, graffiti and a piercing (though it still was numerically graded by PCGS as Fine-15). It realized $2,520 in 2021. All seen are in white metal (likely tin or pewter). Musante lists one recently discovered in silver, but that turned out to be counterfeit, despite what appears to have been a pricey sale, according to the results of an internet search. We have examined it in hand.<p>The graffiti on these medals is worthy of attention, as it is not of the garden variety. On this piece, it is the initials JWM cut into the lower obverse field. We are aware of 10 examples of the Victor Sine Clade medal and more than half have some type of graffiti noted. In the case of this medal, the Altman-Haffner-Steinberg specimen, and that at ANS (ex Norweb), this is either a name or three initials cut into the lower obverse. The Stanley Scott-Mount Vernon medal is heavily tooled, but appears to have also had initials in the same place. Close inspection might reveal others with such features. It is clear these initials carried some meaning and were done near the time of issue. The crude, block-style letters on this piece and the Steinberg medal could easily have been laid down by the same hand. Further evidence that these are not the random one-offs of idle hands can be found in the silver funeral medals by Jacob Perkins, both the Urn and the Skull and Crossbones variants. Those are also occasionally seen with initials in the lower obverse, or clearly deliberate cuts in the same place. Though these additions were certainly not by the makers, the fact that so many have been seen with similar additions informs us that some close-knit group of buyers and wearers of these medals had the shared idea to personalize them at the time. It is part of the story of these medals to be sure, though we may never figure out what that specific story was.<p>The Victor Sine Clade medal was designed by Dudley A. Tyng, a Mason and the Collector of Import Duties at Newburyport, appointed by President Washington in 1795. Dies were engraved by Nicholas Pearce, also of Newburyport, and according to W. Elliot Woodwards 1865 <em>Washington Memorial Medals,</em> the dies were cut in Jacob Perkinss shop, where the medals were also likely struck.<p>As published by Neil Musante, the medal was advertised for sale in the <em>Massachusetts Mercury</em> on February 11, 1800, probably intentionally corresponding to the Masonic funeral procession for Washington in Boston on that day. With the notice written to appeal to Masons specifically, beginning with A National and Masonic Medal…, and with sentiments running favorably during such a day of mourning, it might have seemed the ideal day to announce such a medal. However, though the medals were made available in eight locations specified in the notice, it seems that very few were sold, as, again, the medal is very rare today.From the John M. Pack Collection. Earlier ex Ralph A. Edson Collection; our sale of October 2018, lot 62.
