Washington Before Boston. Electrotype shell of a circa 1788-1789 unadopted Paris Mint obverse. Musante GW-Unlisted, Baker-Unlisted. Copper. Extremely Fine.69.2 mm, 340.4 grains. Pale and somewhat rosy brown with soft steel highlights in some of the re-cesses. Rough, untrimmed edges give this piece quite bit of character. A tiny puncture through XE of EXERCITUUM is likely from this piece having been mounted to a board for display in antique fashion. A small dent is noted just left of Washington’s head. The surfaces are slightly mottled and the piece is not at all unattractive. An electrotype shell like this is about the only way an advanced collector is going to secure an example of this unadopted style. This piece is quite a bit sharper in detail throughout than on the piece in the previous lot. Therefore, it seems more likely to have been made directly from one of the cliches from the original unadopted obverse die, as in the upper plate on page 42 of Musante’s <em>Medallic Washington</em>. As noted above, the hair styling is clearly different between this piece and that offered in the previous lot, just as it is in the upper and lower plated pieces on the referenced page of Musante’s book. Likely a product of the mid to late 19th century.From the Collection of Marc McDonald. Earlier ex Presidential Coin and Antique, June 2011, lot 141.
